CVE-2018-20402
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 · uneditedSafe Software FME Server through 2018.1 creates and enables three additional accounts in addition to the initial administrator account. The passwords to the three accounts are the same as the usernames, which are guest, user, and author. Logging in with these accounts will grant any user the default privilege roles that were also created for each of the accounts.
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 confidenceSafe Software FME Server through 2018.1 creates three default user accounts (guest, user, author) during installation with passwords identical to their usernames. These accounts are enabled by default and grant users the predefined privilege roles associated with each account, allowing unauthorized access to the system.
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<= 2018.1CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/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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Identify FME Server installation and versionLocate the FME Server installation directory and check the version information, typically found in the About section of the FME Server web interface or in installation files.Affected if The installed version is 2018.1 or earlier (any version through 2018.1)
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Check for default user accountsAccess the FME Server user management interface (typically under Administration > Users or Security settings) and verify whether accounts named 'guest', 'user', and 'author' exist.Affected if Any or all of these three default accounts (guest, user, author) are present in the system
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Verify default account passwordsAttempt to authenticate or review the account configuration to determine if the password for each default account matches its username (e.g., password 'guest' for account 'guest').Affected if Any default account has a password identical to its username
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Confirm default accounts are enabledCheck the account status in the FME Server user management interface to determine if these default accounts are active and able to authenticate.Affected if Any of the default accounts (guest, user, author) are enabled and can be used for login
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Review privileges assigned to default accountsExamine the role or privilege settings associated with each default account to determine what access levels they possess.Affected if The default accounts have any predefined roles or privileges granting access to FME Server resources
A user is affected if FME Server version 2018.1 or earlier is installed and any of the default accounts (guest, user, author) exist with passwords matching their usernames and are enabled.
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 dataDisable or remove the default guest, user, and author accounts, or change their passwords to strong, unique values different from the usernames. If these accounts are required for business functions, implement proper password policies and restrict their privilege roles to the minimum necessary.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-20402 — 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-2018-20402 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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- 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
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