CVE-2018-20341
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 · uneditedWINMAGIC SecureDoc Disk Encryption software before 8.3 has an Unquoted Service Path vulnerability, which could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on a target system. If the executable is enclosed in quote tags "" then the system will know where to find it. However if the path of where the application binary is located doesn't contain any quotes then Windows will try to find it and execute it inside every folder of this path until they reach the executable.
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 confidenceWINMAGIC SecureDoc Disk Encryption service before version 8.3 contains an unquoted service path vulnerability. The service runs with elevated privileges (typical for disk encryption) and its executable path contains spaces without quotes, causing Windows to attempt executing binaries from intermediate directories before reaching the intended executable. This enables privilege escalation to SYSTEM level.
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< 8.3CVSS 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 if SecureDoc service existsRun 'sc query SecureDoc' or 'Get-Service -Name SecureDoc' in PowerShell/Command PromptAffected if The service is not found, meaning the product is not installed
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Retrieve the service executable pathRun 'sc qc SecureDoc' and examine the BINARY_PATH_NAME field, or use 'Get-WmiObject win32_service | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "SecureDoc"} | Select-Object -ExpandProperty PathName'Affected if The path contains spaces and is not enclosed in quotes (e.g., C:\Program Files\WinMagic\SecureDoc\sdcserv.exe instead of "C:\Program Files\WinMagic\SecureDoc\sdcserv.exe")
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Check the service startup type and privilegesRun 'sc qc SecureDoc' and examine the START_TYPE and SERVICE_START_NAME fields, or use 'Get-WmiObject win32_service | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "SecureDoc"} | Select-Object StartName, StartMode'Affected if The service is set to start automatically (AUTO_START) and runs as LocalSystem or a privileged account
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Verify the installed SecureDoc versionLocate the SecureDoc executable (commonly in C:\Program Files\WinMagic\SecureDoc\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\WinMagic\SecureDoc\) and run 'Get-ItemProperty -Path "<path to sdcserv.exe>" | Select-Object VersionInfo' or right-click the file and view PropertiesAffected if The version displayed is earlier than 8.3 (e.g., 8.2, 8.1, 8.0, etc.) or cannot be determined as 8.3 or later
Your environment is affected if the SecureDoc service is installed, runs with elevated privileges, has an unquoted executable path containing spaces, and the installed version is below 8.3.
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 data8.3
Update SecureDoc to version 8.3 or later to receive the vendor patch, or modify the service configuration to use properly quoted executable paths if patching is not feasible.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-20341 — 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-2018-20341 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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