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Fencer Intel
high 7.8

CVE-2018-18435 json

KioWare Server version 4.9.6 and older installs by default to "C:\kioware_com" with weak folder permissions granting any user full permissi…

published 7y ago modified 4mo ago also EUVD-2018-10163

cvss
7.8
version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
1.4%
EPSS 1.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 72%
public exploits
1
Exploit-DB

Summary

KioWare Server version 4.9.6 and older installs by default to "C:\kioware_com" with weak folder permissions granting any user full permission "Everyone: (F)" to the contents of the directory and it's sub-folders. In addition, the program installs a service called "KWSService" which runs as "Localsystem", this will allow any user to escalate privileges to "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM" by substituting the service's binary with a malicious one.

Patch / fix

Is CVE-2018-18435 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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Timeline

  1. First public exploit (EDB-46093)
  2. Published

Exploit prediction

1.38% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 72% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • EDB-46093 KioWare Server Version 4.9.6 - Weak Folder Permissions Privilege Escalation local, 2019-01-07
  • packetstormsecurity.com http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/151031/KioWare-Server-4.9.6-Privilege-Escalation.html referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.0 7.8 CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 7.2 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-732 Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource

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.