# CVE-2018-15490: Path traversal in n/a

> A path traversal vulnerability in the ExpressVPN Windows service allows attackers to read and write arbitrary files on the system.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N`)
- **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:** No
- **Published:** 2 Jan 2019
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-f5mw-fw9m-vxmc

## What is CVE-2018-15490?

CVE-2018-15490 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in n/a, published on 2 Jan 2019. 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 ExpressVPN on Windows. The Xvpnd.exe process (which runs as a service with SYSTEM privileges) listens on TCP port 2015, which is used as an RPC interface for communication with the client side of the ExpressVPN application. A JSON-RPC protocol over HTTP is used for communication. The JSON-RPC XVPN.GetPreference and XVPN.SetPreference methods are vulnerable to path traversal, and allow reading and writing files on the file system on behalf of the service.

Weakness: CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-15490?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Expressvpn Expressvpn.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-15490?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-15490 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-15490 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-15490 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2024-25728](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-25728/): Information disclosure in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2020-29238](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-29238/): Integer overflow in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-15490 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-15490 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in n/a, published on 2 Jan 2019. 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-2018-15490 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-2018-15490/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-15490/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-15490
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-15490
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-15490

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-15490/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.