CVE-2020-8018
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 · uneditedA Incorrect Default Permissions vulnerability in the SLES15-SP1-CHOST-BYOS and SLES15-SP1-CAP-Deployment-BYOS images of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1 allows local attackers with the UID 1000 to escalate to root due to a /etc directory owned by the user This issue affects: SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1 SLES15-SP1-CAP-Deployment-BYOS version 1.0.1 and prior versions; SLES15-SP1-CHOST-BYOS versions prior to 1.0.3 and prior versions;
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 /etc directory in affected SLES15-SP1 BYOS images is owned by UID 1000 (non-root user) instead of root:root, allowing that user to modify critical system configuration files (passwd, sudoers, shadow, etc.) and escalate to 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= 15CVSS 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:3.1/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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Identify the installed SUSE Linux Enterprise versionRun 'cat /etc/os-release' or 'hostnamectl' to confirm the distribution is SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop version 15Affected if The system is not SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15, then this specific BYOS image flaw does not apply
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Check /etc directory ownershipRun 'ls -ld /etc' and examine the owner and group columnsAffected if The /etc directory is owned by UID 1000 or any non-root user/group (not root:root), indicating the vulnerability is present
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Verify UID 1000 exists on the systemRun 'id 1000' or 'getent passwd 1000' to check if this user account existsAffected if UID 1000 maps to a non-root user account (not root), confirming a potential attack vector
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Inspect ownership of critical system configuration filesRun 'ls -l /etc/passwd /etc/shadow /etc/sudoers' to check if these files are also owned or modifiable by UID 1000Affected if Any of these sensitive files show UID 1000 as owner or are writable by a non-root user, indicating the flaw is exploitable
If the system is SLES 15 and the /etc directory (or its critical files) is owned by UID 1000 instead of root, the environment is affected by this vulnerability.
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 dataCorrect ownership of /etc directory to root:root (chown -R root:root /etc) in affected images and regenerate/rebuild the BYOS images with proper permissions.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-8018 — 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-2020-8018 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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