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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 15 Apr 2022. Known ransomware use
Kace System Management ApplianceApplication · Quest

CVE-2018-11138

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2018-05-31
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Ransomware High EPSS Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges 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
The '/common/download_agent_installer.php' script in the Quest KACE System Management Appliance 8.0.318 is accessible by anonymous users and can be abused to execute arbitrary commands on the system.

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 confidence

A command injection vulnerability exists in the Quest KACE System Management Appliance 8.0.318 where the '/common/download_agent_installer.php' script is accessible to anonymous, unauthenticated users and can be abused to execute arbitrary commands on the underlying operating system.

MitigationImmediately restrict access to the download_agent_installer.php script to authenticated administrators only, or if available, apply the vendor-supplied security patch for this vulnerability.

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
Kace System Management ApplianceApplication
Affected:= 8.0.318

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

CVSS:3.1/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 checks

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

  1. Confirm Quest KACE SMA is installed
    Identify if the Quest KACE System Management Appliance is running in your environment by checking for the product via web interface, network scanning, or system inventory
    Affected if Quest KACE SMA is present in the environment
  2. Check installed version
    Access the KACE SMA admin interface or check system inventory for the exact version number. Look for version 8.0.318 specifically
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 8.0.318
  3. Verify vulnerable endpoint exists
    Attempt to access http://[hostname]/common/download_agent_installer.php via HTTP/HTTPS request and check if the script responds (even with an error)
    Affected if The /common/download_agent_installer.php endpoint is reachable and responds to requests
  4. Confirm unauthenticated access is possible
    Send a request to /common/download_agent_installer.php WITHOUT providing any authentication credentials (cookies, tokens, or Basic Auth). Check if the script processes the request instead of redirecting to a login page
    Affected if The script is accessible to anonymous/unauthenticated users without any login requirement

If Quest KACE SMA version 8.0.318 is running AND the /common/download_agent_installer.php endpoint is accessible to unauthenticated users, the environment is affected by this command injection vulnerability.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Immediately restrict access to the download_agent_installer.php script to authenticated administrators only, or if available, apply the vendor-supplied security patch for this vulnerability.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Latest available Quest KACE SMA version (post 8.0.318)

  1. 1. Back up the current KACE SMA configuration before making any changes
  2. 2. Download the latest Quest KACE System Management Appliance version from the official Quest software portal
  3. 3. Upgrade the appliance to the latest available version following Quest's official upgrade documentation
  4. 4. Verify that the '/common/download_agent_installer.php' endpoint is no longer accessible to anonymous users
  5. 5. Test that the command injection vulnerability is no longer exploitable
  6. 6. Confirm normal KACE SMA functionality after the upgrade
Caveat Review Quest KACE release notes for any configuration or feature changes between 8.0.318 and the target version

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Kace System Management Appliance Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
34.0 hours of engineering $5,940
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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-2018-11138 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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