# CVE-2018-20052: Privilege escalation in n/a

> A user with NOPASSWD sudo privileges on Cerner Connectivity Engine devices can escalate privileges to root by exploiting misconfigured sudo rules.

- **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:** 25 Apr 2019
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-7gmc-347m-8mwf

## What is CVE-2018-20052?

CVE-2018-20052 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 25 Apr 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 on Cerner Connectivity Engine (CCE) 4 devices. The user running the main CCE firmware has NOPASSWD sudo privileges to several utilities that could be used to escalate privileges to root. One example is the "sudo ln -s /tmp/script /etc/cron.hourly/script" command.

Weakness: CWE-1188 (Initialization of a Resource with an Insecure Default)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-20052?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cerner Connectivity Engine 4 Firmware.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-20052?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-20052 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-20052 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-20052 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2018-20053](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-20053/): Command injection in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-20052 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-20052 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 25 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-2018-20052 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-2018-20052/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-20052/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-20052
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-20052
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-20052

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-20052/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.