# CVE-2018-10361: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can escalate privileges to root via symlink attacks on temporary files in KTextEditor when saving files in shared directories.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 25 Apr 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2018-10361, GHSA-4w86-wmpg-xc6m, UBUNTU-CVE-2018-10361, openSUSE-SU-2024:10900-1

## What is CVE-2018-10361?

CVE-2018-10361 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 25 Apr 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in KTextEditor 5.34.0 through 5.45.0. Insecure handling of temporary files in the KTextEditor's kauth_ktexteditor_helper service (as utilized in the Kate text editor) can allow other unprivileged users on the local system to gain root privileges. The attack occurs when one user (who has an unprivileged account but is also able to authenticate as root) writes a text file using Kate into a directory owned by a another unprivileged user. The latter unprivileged user conducts a symlink attack to achieve privilege escalation.

Weakness: CWE-668 (Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-10361?

It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `ktexteditor` | openSUSE:Tumbleweed | All versions | 5.86.0-1.3 |

Products: Kde Ktexteditor.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-10361?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2018-10361 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-10361 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-10361 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-10361 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 25 Apr 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-10361 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-10361/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-10361/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-10361
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-10361
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-10361

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-10361/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.