CVE-2018-6790
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 · uneditedAn issue was discovered in KDE Plasma Workspace before 5.12.0. dataengines/notifications/notificationsengine.cpp allows remote attackers to discover client IP addresses via a URL in a notification, as demonstrated by the src attribute of an IMG element.
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 confidenceThe KDE Plasma Workspace notifications engine (dataengines/notifications/notificationsengine.cpp) before version 5.12.0 contains an information disclosure vulnerability. When a notification includes a URL with an IMG element, the src attribute can be constructed in a way that reveals the client's IP address to remote attackers.
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< 5.12.0CVSS 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
- Low
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
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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Determine KDE Plasma Workspace versionRun 'plasma-desktop --version' or 'plasma-workspace --version' in a terminal to get the installed version numberAffected if The version displayed is less than 5.12.0 (for example, 5.11.x, 5.10.x, or earlier)
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Check notifications engine componentLocate the file dataengines/notifications/notificationsengine.cpp in the system (typically in /usr/lib/ or /usr/share/) and note its presence and modification dateAffected if The file exists and belongs to a KDE Plasma Workspace installation version below 5.12.0
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Verify notification feature usageInspect whether the Plasma notifications system is active by checking the running processes (ps aux | grep -i notification) or system settings panel for notification configurationAffected if The notification daemon (knotifications or similar) is running and handling HTML-capable notifications from potentially untrusted sources
You are affected if KDE Plasma Workspace version is below 5.12.0 AND the notifications engine is processing notifications containing URLs with IMG elements from remote or untrusted sources.
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 data5.12.0
Upgrade KDE Plasma Workspace to version 5.12.0 or later to obtain the vendor patch. Until then, exercise caution with notifications from untrusted sources.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 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-2018-6790 — 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-2018-6790 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data