# CVE-2018-18629: Privilege escalation in n/a

> A local unprivileged user can gain root privileges by exploiting an untrusted search path in the Keybase redirector application.

- **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:** No
- **Published:** 20 Dec 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-r956-7c4h-fwq7

## What is CVE-2018-18629?

CVE-2018-18629 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 20 Dec 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 the Keybase command-line client before 2.8.0-20181023124437 for Linux. An untrusted search path vulnerability in the keybase-redirector application allows a local, unprivileged user on Linux to gain root privileges via a Trojan horse binary.

Weakness: CWE-426 (Untrusted Search Path)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-18629?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Keybase Keybase.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-18629?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-18629 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-18629 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-18629 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- Keybase keybase-redirector - '$PATH' Local Privilege Escalation (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2019-7249](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-7249/): Race condition in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-16992](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16992/): Other in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2021-34422](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-34422/): Path traversal of file names in Keybase Client for Windows (high 7.2)
- [CVE-2021-23827](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-23827/): Information disclosure in n/a (medium 5.5)
- [CVE-2021-34426](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-34426/): Arbitrary command execution in Keybase Client for Windows (medium 5.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-18629 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-18629 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 20 Dec 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-2018-18629 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-2018-18629/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-18629/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-18629
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-18629
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-18629

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-18629/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.