PulpApplication · Pulpproject

CVE-2018-10917

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-08-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.16.0 or later.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable Zero-click

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 · unedited
pulp 2.16.x and possibly older is vulnerable to an improper path parsing. A malicious user or a malicious iso feed repository can write to locations accessible to the 'apache' user. This may lead to overwrite of published content on other iso repositories.

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 · moderate confidence

pulp 2.16.x contains an improper path parsing vulnerability allowing a malicious user or malicious iso feed repository to write to arbitrary locations accessible by the apache user, potentially overwriting published content in other iso repositories through path traversal.

MitigationImplement strict path validation and sanitization to ensure repository files can only be written within their designated directories; restrict file write permissions and add directory containment checks.

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 data
PulpApplication
Affected:<= 2.16.0= 2.16.1= 2.16.2= 2.16.4

CVSS 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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Pulp version
    Run 'rpm -q pulp-server' or 'pulp-admin --version' to retrieve the installed Pulp version number
    Affected if The installed version is 2.16.0 or lower, or exactly 2.16.1, 2.16.2, or 2.16.4
  2. Confirm Pulp ISO repository module is in use
    Check /etc/pulp/server/db for existing ISO repository configurations, or run 'pulp-admin iso repo list' to list active ISO repositories
    Affected if ISO repositories are configured and syncing from external feeds
  3. Verify Apache user ownership of Pulp directories
    Run 'ls -la /var/lib/pulp/' and check if the 'apache' user owns or has write access to published content directories
    Affected if The Apache user has write permissions to /var/lib/pulp/published or other repository directories outside the expected ISO repository path
  4. Check for unexpected files in published locations
    Inspect /var/lib/pulp/published/iso and adjacent directories for files with unusual paths (containing '../' patterns) or files appearing outside expected repository boundaries
    Affected if Files exist with path traversal patterns or appear in directories outside their expected ISO repository containment

A user is affected if they run Pulp version 2.16.0 or lower, or exactly 2.16.1, 2.16.2, or 2.16.4, with ISO repositories configured and Apache user having write access to published content directories.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 2.16.0
Interim mitigation

Implement strict path validation and sanitization to ensure repository files can only be written within their designated directories; restrict file write permissions and add directory containment checks.

Fix this in Pulp Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,820
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,512.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-10917 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-10917 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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