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Fencer Intel
high 7.8

CVE-2018-20969 json

do_ed_script in pch.c in GNU patch through 2.7.6 does not block strings beginning with a ! character.

published 2019-08-16 7 y ago modified 2026-07-25 3 mo ago also EUVD-2018-13506 , JLSEC-2026-13

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

do_ed_script in pch.c in GNU patch through 2.7.6 does not block strings beginning with a ! character. NOTE: this is the same commit as for CVE-2019-13638, but the ! syntax is specific to ed, and is unrelated to a shell metacharacter.

Patch / fix

  • julia patch_jll 2.8.0+0
  • patch Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 2.7.6-5

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2018-20969

  • patch Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 2.7.5-1ubuntu0.16.04.2
  • patch Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 2.7.6-2ubuntu1.1
  • patch Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS 2.7.1-4ubuntu2.4+esm1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2018-20969

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

  • patch RHEL 7 2.7.1-12.el7_7
  • patch RHEL 8 2.7.6-9.el8_0
  • patch RHEL 7.4 TUS, RHEL 7.4 E4S, RHEL 7.4 AUS 2.7.1-11.el7_4
  • patch RHEL 7.5 EUS 2.7.1-11.el7_5
  • patch RHEL 7.6 EUS 2.7.1-11.el7_6

red hat advisories RHSA-2019:4061RHSA-2019:3757RHSA-2019:3758RHSA-2019:2964RHSA-2019:2798

  • patch Alpine 3.24, Alpine 3.23, Alpine 3.22 +13 more 2.7.6-r6

alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2018-20969

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

  • patch Azure Linux 3.0 2.7.6-9
  • patch CBL-Mariner 2.0 2.7.6-7

azure linux advisories AZL-35102AZL-6786

Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT

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-2018-20969 updated cvss 7.8

patch: do_ed_script in pch.c does not block strings beginning with a ! character

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 patch
    affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) patch 2.7.6-9.el8_0
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:2798
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) patch 2.7.1-12.el7_7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) patch 2.7.1-12.el7_7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:2964
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode EUS (v. 7.5) patch 2.7.1-11.el7_5
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:3757
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode EUS (v. 7.6) patch 2.7.1-11.el7_6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server (v. 7) patch 2.7.1-11.el7_6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:3758
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) patch 2.7.1-12.el7_7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:2964
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server AUS (v. 7.4) patch 2.7.1-11.el7_4 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server E4S (v. 7.4) patch 2.7.1-11.el7_4
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:4061
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 7.5) patch 2.7.1-11.el7_5
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:3757
show 4 more
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 7.6) patch 2.7.1-11.el7_6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:3758
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server TUS (v. 7.4) patch 2.7.1-11.el7_4
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:4061
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) patch 2.7.1-12.el7_7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:2964
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 patch
    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

  • seclists.org https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Aug/29 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:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 9.3 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
OSV 3.0 7.8 CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
julia patch_jll
<2.8.0+0
2.8.0+0

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-78 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command

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.