CVE-2018-19636
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 · uneditedSupportutils, before version 3.1-5.7.1, when run with command line argument -A searched the file system for a ndspath binary. If an attacker provides one at an arbitrary location it is executed with root privileges
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 confidenceSupportutils, a system utility, before version 3.1-5.7.1 has a privilege escalation vulnerability. When invoked with the -A argument, it searches the filesystem for an 'ndspath' binary. If an attacker places a malicious ndspath binary at an arbitrary location writable by the unprivileged user, Supportutils will execute it with root privileges.
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< 3.1-5.7.1CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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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Check installed supportutils versionRun 'rpm -q supportutils' (or 'dpkg -l supportutils' if applicable) to retrieve the installed version numberAffected if Version is lower than 3.1-5.7.1
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Verify ndspath binary locationsRun 'which ndspath' and 'find / -name ndspath 2>/dev/null' to locate any ndspath binaries on the systemAffected if An ndspath binary exists in a world-writable directory (e.g., /tmp, /var/tmp, or user's home directory)
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Check supportutils usage with -A argumentReview system crontabs, scripts, or audit logs for commands running 'supportutils -A' or 'supportutils --all'Affected if supportutils is executed with the -A argument, enabling the vulnerable code path
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Audit writable directories for ndspathInspect permissions on /tmp, /var/tmp, /home, and other common writable locations using 'ls -ld /tmp /var/tmp /home/*' to identify world-writable directoriesAffected if World-writable directories exist where an unprivileged user could place a malicious ndspath binary
A system is affected if supportutils version is below 3.1-5.7.1 AND the -A argument is used in an environment where unprivileged users can write to directories that supportutils searches for ndspath.
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 data3.1-5.7.1
Update Supportutils to version 3.1-5.7.1 or later. Until patched, avoid running supportutils with the -A argument in multi-user environments and ensure only trusted paths are searched.
- Consultation2.0 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-2018-19636 — 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-2018-19636 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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