# CVE-2018-1903: Privilege escalation in Sterling Connect:Direct for UNIX

> A user with restricted sudo access can manipulate IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for UNIX to gain full sudo privileges.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.7 (`CVSS:3.0/C:H/UI:N/AC:L/AV:L/I:H/A:H/S:U/PR:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 10 Apr 2019
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-98fc-prpc-gmj8

## What is CVE-2018-1903?

CVE-2018-1903 is a medium-severity vulnerability in IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for UNIX, published on 10 Apr 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for UNIX 4.2.0, 4.3.0, and 6.0.0 could allow a user with restricted sudo access on a system to manipulate CD UNIX to gain full sudo access. IBM X-Force ID: 152532.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-1903?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Ibm Sterling Connect\.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-1903?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-1903 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-1903 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-1903 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for UNIX

- [CVE-2023-32331](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-32331/): IBM Connect:Express for UNIX denial of service (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2020-4767](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-4767/): Memory corruption in Sterling Connect Direct for Microsoft Windows (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2025-36137](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-36137/): IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for UNIX command execution (high 7.2)
- [CVE-2023-29260](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-29260/): IBM Sterling Connect:Express for UNIX server-side request forgery (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2025-36063](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-36063/): Multiple vulnerabilities were addressed in IBM Sterling Connect:Express for UNIX. (medium 6.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-1903 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-1903 is a medium-severity vulnerability in IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for UNIX, published on 10 Apr 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-2018-1903 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for UNIX. 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-2018-1903/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1903/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-1903
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-1903
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-1903

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1903/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.