CVE-2018-0595
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedUntrusted search path vulnerability in the installer of Skype for Windows allows an attacker to gain privileges via a Trojan horse DLL in an unspecified directory.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThis is a DLL hijacking (untrusted search path) vulnerability in the Skype for Windows installer. During installation, the installer loads DLLs from directories that an attacker can control, allowing placement of a malicious DLL that executes with elevated privileges during the installation process.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE dataall versionsCVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if Skype is installed on the systemLook for Skype installation directories. On 64-bit systems check both C:\Program Files\Skype and C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype. Use command: dir /s /b 'C:\Program Files\Skype' 2>nul or dir /s /b 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype' 2>nulAffected if The Skype installation directory exists on the system
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Verify write permissions on Skype installation directoryUse icacls to check if unprivileged users can write to the Skype installation directory. Example: icacls 'C:\Program Files\Skype' or icacls 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype'Affected if The installation directory grants write or modify permissions to standard users or the Users group
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Examine temp directories used during installationCheck write permissions on user-accessible temp directories that the installer may use, such as %TEMP%, %TMP%, or the directory from which setup.exe is run. Use icacls %TEMP%Affected if The temp directory or installation source directory allows write access to unprivileged users
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Look for suspicious DLLs in or near the Skype installation folderList all DLL files in the Skype installation directory and parent directories. Use: dir /s /b 'C:\Program Files\Skype\*.dll' 2>nul. Compare against known legitimate Skype DLLs and note any unexpected or recently created onesAffected if Unexpected DLL files are present in the Skype installation directory or in directories from which installation may have been run
A user is affected if Skype is installed and any directory in its DLL search path during installation (installation directory, temp folder, or working directory) is writable by unprivileged users.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUse a patched or updated version of the Skype installer from official Microsoft sources, or ensure the installation is performed from a trusted directory on a system with restricted write permissions to prevent attacker-controlled DLL placement.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-0595 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-0595 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data