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Fencer Intel
high 7.5

CVE-2018-12020 json

mainproc.c in GnuPG before 2.2.8 mishandles the original filename during decryption and verification actions, which allows remote attackers…

published 8y ago modified 4mo ago also EUVD-2018-4011

cvss
7.5
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
8.2%
EPSS 8.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 94%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

mainproc.c in GnuPG before 2.2.8 mishandles the original filename during decryption and verification actions, which allows remote attackers to spoof the output that GnuPG sends on file descriptor 2 to other programs that use the "--status-fd 2" option. For example, the OpenPGP data might represent an original filename that contains line feed characters in conjunction with GOODSIG or VALIDSIG status codes.

Patch / fix

  • gnupg gnupg 2.2.8
  • gnupg1 Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 1.4.22-5
  • gnupg2 Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 2.2.8-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2018-12020

  • gnupg Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 1.4.16-1ubuntu2.5
  • gnupg Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 1.4.20-1ubuntu3.2
  • gnupg2 Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 2.0.22-3ubuntu1.4
  • gnupg2 Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 2.1.11-6ubuntu2.1
  • gnupg2 Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 2.2.4-1ubuntu1.1
  • python-gnupg Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 0.4.1-1ubuntu1.18.04.1
  • python-gnupg Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS 0.3.6-1ubuntu0.1~esm1
  • python-gnupg Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS 0.3.8-2ubuntu0.1~esm1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2018-12020

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • gnupg2 RHEL 7 2.0.22-5.el7_5
  • gnupg2-smime RHEL 7 2.0.22-5.el7_5
  • gnupg2 RHEL 6 2.0.14-9.el6_10
  • gnupg2-smime RHEL 6 2.0.14-9.el6_10

red hat advisories RHSA-2018:2181RHSA-2018:2180

  • gpg2 SLES 12 SP3, SLES 12 SP2-BCL, SLED 12 SP3 +8 more 2.0.24-9.3.1
  • enigmail SLE Workstation Extension 15 2.0.7-3.7.2
  • gpg2 SLE Module for Basesystem 15 2.2.5-4.3.1
  • gpg2 SLES for SAP 11 SP4, SLES 11 SP4, SLES 11 SP3-TERADATA +2 more 2.0.9-25.33.42.3.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2018:1698-2SUSE-SU-2018:2243-1SUSE-SU-2018:1814-1SUSE-SU-2018:1698-1SUSE-SU-2018:1696-1

  • python-python-gnupg openSUSE Tumbleweed 0.5.6-2.1
  • python-python-gnupg openSUSE Tumbleweed 0.5.2-1.5
  • enigmail openSUSE Tumbleweed 2.2.4-1.4
  • gpg2 openSUSE Tumbleweed 2.2.27-2.4

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:11755-1openSUSE-SU-2024:14158-1openSUSE-SU-2024:10736-1openSUSE-SU-2024:10815-1

  • gnupg Alpine 3.24, Alpine 3.23, Alpine 3.22 +14 more 2.2.8-r0
  • gnupg Alpine 3.4 2.1.12-r1
  • gnupg Alpine 3.5 2.1.15-r1
  • gnupg Alpine 3.7, Alpine 3.6 2.2.3-r1
  • gnupg1 Alpine 3.15, Alpine 3.14, Alpine 3.13 +8 more 1.4.22-r1

alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2018-12020

Alpine secdb © Alpine Linux, from https://secdb.alpinelinux.org via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • gnupg Arch Linux 2.2.8-1

arch linux advisories AVG-713

Is CVE-2018-12020 in your stack? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

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Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2018-12020 updated cvss 7.5

gnupg2: Improper sanitization of filenames allows for the display of fake status messages and the bypass of signature verification

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 gnupg, gnupg2
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “This flaw can be mitigated by appending the --no-verbose command line flag.”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) gnupg2 2.0.22-5.el7_5 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) gnupg2-smime 2.0.22-5.el7_5 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) gnupg2 2.0.22-5.el7_5 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) gnupg2-smime 2.0.22-5.el7_5
    fixed: vendor fix “This flaw can be mitigated by appending the --no-verbose command line flag.” RHSA-2018:2181
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) gnupg2 2.0.14-9.el6_10 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Optional (v. 6) gnupg2-smime 2.0.14-9.el6_10
    fixed: vendor fix “This flaw can be mitigated by appending the --no-verbose command line flag.” RHSA-2018:2180
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server (v. 7) gnupg2 2.0.22-5.el7_5 Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server Optional (v. 7) gnupg2-smime 2.0.22-5.el7_5
    fixed: vendor fix “This flaw can be mitigated by appending the --no-verbose command line flag.” RHSA-2018:2181
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6) gnupg2 2.0.14-9.el6_10 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6) gnupg2-smime 2.0.14-9.el6_10 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) gnupg2 2.0.14-9.el6_10
    fixed: vendor fix “This flaw can be mitigated by appending the --no-verbose command line flag.” RHSA-2018:2180
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) gnupg2 2.0.22-5.el7_5
    fixed: vendor fix “This flaw can be mitigated by appending the --no-verbose command line flag.” RHSA-2018:2181
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 6) gnupg2-smime 2.0.14-9.el6_10
    fixed: vendor fix “This flaw can be mitigated by appending the --no-verbose command line flag.” RHSA-2018:2180
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) gnupg2-smime 2.0.22-5.el7_5
    fixed: vendor fix “This flaw can be mitigated by appending the --no-verbose command line flag.” RHSA-2018:2181
show 5 more
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) gnupg2 2.0.14-9.el6_10
    fixed: vendor fix “This flaw can be mitigated by appending the --no-verbose command line flag.” RHSA-2018:2180
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) gnupg2 2.0.22-5.el7_5
    fixed: vendor fix “This flaw can be mitigated by appending the --no-verbose command line flag.” RHSA-2018:2181
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 6) gnupg2-smime 2.0.14-9.el6_10
    fixed: vendor fix “This flaw can be mitigated by appending the --no-verbose command line flag.” RHSA-2018:2180
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) gnupg2-smime 2.0.22-5.el7_5
    fixed: vendor fix “This flaw can be mitigated by appending the --no-verbose command line flag.” RHSA-2018:2181
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 gnupg2, gnupg2-smime
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

8.25% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 94% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
NVD 2.0 5.0 AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-706 Use of Incorrectly-Resolved Name or Reference

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.