CVE-2018-10870
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 · uneditedredhat-certification does not properly sanitize paths in rhcertStore.py:__saveResultsFile. A remote attacker could use this flaw to overwrite any file, potentially gaining remote code execution.
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 confidenceA path traversal vulnerability in redhat-certification's rhcertStore.py:__saveResultsFile function allows remote attackers to write arbitrary files to the filesystem due to insufficient sanitization of user-controlled path inputs. This can enable remote code execution by overwriting sensitive system or application files.
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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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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Verify redhat-certification package is installedRun 'rpm -qa | grep -i redhat-certification' (RHEL/CentOS) or check your system's package manager for the redhat-certification packageAffected if The package is installed - all versions are affected according to the CVE data
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Locate the vulnerable rhcertStore.py fileSearch for the file using 'find / -name rhcertStore.py 2>/dev/null' or check common paths like /usr/lib/python*/site-packages/rhcert/Affected if The file exists on the system - this contains the vulnerable __saveResultsFile function
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Inspect the __saveResultsFile function for path traversal vulnerabilityExamine the source code of rhcertStore.py and locate the __saveResultsFile function - look for file write operations without proper path sanitization (missing '../' filtering or path normalization)Affected if The function contains unsanitized path inputs being used in file write operations - this is the vulnerable code path
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Determine if the vulnerable function is exposedCheck if rhcert provides a web service, API, or network-accessible interface that invokes __saveResultsFile - check service configurations and listening portsAffected if The certification service is network-accessible and processes user-controlled data through the vulnerable function
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Check for web service or API configurationReview service configs in /etc/rhcert/ or check if the service runs as a daemon (look for rhcertd or similar processes) that accepts external inputAffected if The service accepts remote or external input that could supply the malicious path values used by __saveResultsFile
If redhat-certification is installed and its rhcertStore.py contains the __saveResultsFile function that processes untrusted path inputs without sanitization, and this function is accessible via network or external input, the environment is affected by this path traversal vulnerability.
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 dataImplement strict path validation in __saveResultsFile to ensure paths resolve within an allowed directory, reject paths containing traversal sequences (../), and normalize paths before writing.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-10870 — 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-2018-10870 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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