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Fencer Intel
high 7.8

CVE-2018-20167 json

Terminology before 1.3.1 allows Remote Code Execution because popmedia is mishandled, as demonstrated by an unsafe "cat README.md" command…

published 2018-12-17 7 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2018-12735

cvss
7.8
version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
2.7%
EPSS 2.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 85%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

Terminology before 1.3.1 allows Remote Code Execution because popmedia is mishandled, as demonstrated by an unsafe "cat README.md" command when \e}pn is used. A popmedia control sequence can allow the malicious execution of executable file formats registered in the X desktop share MIME types (/usr/share/applications). The control sequence defers unknown file types to the handle_unknown_media() function, which executes xdg-open against the filename specified in the sequence. The use of xdg-open for all unknown file types allows executable file formats with a registered shared MIME type to be executed. An attacker can achieve remote code execution by introducing an executable file and a plain text file containing the control sequence through a fake software project (e.g., in Git or a tarball). When the control sequence is rendered (such as with cat), the executable file will be run.

Patch / fix

  • enlightenment terminology 1.3.1
  • terminology Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 1.3.1-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2018-20167

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-2018-20167 updated cvss 8.1

terminology: Incorrect escaping of crafted files results in code execution

  • Red Hat All currently supported Red Hat products
    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

2.68% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 85% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.0 7.8 CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 6.8 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-74 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component

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.