CVE-2018-2406
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 · uneditedUnquoted windows search path (directory/path traversal) vulnerability in Crystal Reports Server, OEM Edition (CRSE), 4.0, 4.10, 4.20, 4.30, startup path.
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 confidenceUnquoted Windows service path vulnerability where the Crystal Reports Server startup path contains spaces and is not enclosed in quotes. When Windows starts the service, it attempts to execute each word in the path as a separate command, allowing an attacker with write access to intermediate directories to place a malicious executable that runs with elevated 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= 4.0= 4.10= 4.20= 4.30CVSS 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
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
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 Crystal Reports Server is installedOpen Programs and Features (control panel) or check for installation directories like C:\Program Files\SAP BusinessObjects\ or look for SAP Crystal Reports Server entriesAffected if Crystal Reports Server version 4.0, 4.10, 4.20, or 4.30 is installed on the system
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Find the Crystal Reports Server Windows serviceOpen Services (services.msc) and look for services with 'Crystal' or 'SAP' in the name, or enumerate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services in registry for service names containing these keywordsAffected if A Windows service associated with Crystal Reports Server exists
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Retrieve the service executable pathRun 'sc qc <servicename>' in command prompt or open registry editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\<servicename>\ImagePath to view the binary pathAffected if The service exists and has an ImagePath value configured
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Check if the path is unquoted and contains spacesExamine the ImagePath value - if it contains spaces and is not enclosed in double quotes (e.g., C:\Program Files\SAP BusinessObjects\... instead of "C:\Program Files\SAP BusinessObjects\..."), the vulnerability is presentAffected if The ImagePath contains one or more spaces and does not start and end with quotation marks
If Crystal Reports Server 4.0, 4.10, 4.20, or 4.30 is installed with a Windows service whose ImagePath contains spaces and lacks surrounding quotes, the environment is affected by CVE-2018-2406.
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 dataEnclose the service executable path in quotes in the Windows service configuration (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\<servicename>\ImagePath) and remove or rename directories in the path that contain spaces.
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- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-2406 — 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-2018-2406 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
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