# CVE-2018-20193: Privilege escalation in n/a

> A readonly user can escalate privileges to administrator by modifying a local copy of the user update page, allowing full system control.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/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:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 21 Dec 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-ch39-vq4q-cxxx

## What is CVE-2018-20193?

CVE-2018-20193 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 21 Dec 2018. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Certain Secure Access SA Series SSL VPN products (originally developed by Juniper Networks but now sold and supported by Pulse Secure, LLC) allow privilege escalation, as demonstrated by Secure Access SSL VPN SA-4000 5.1R5 (build 9627) 4.2 Release (build 7631). This occurs because appropriate controls are not performed. Specifically, it is possible for a readonly user to change the administrator user password by making a local copy of the /dana-admin/user/update.cgi page, changing the "user" value, and saving the changes.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-20193?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Pulsesecure Secure Access Series Ssl Vpn Sa-4000.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-20193?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-20193 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-20193 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-20193 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-20193 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-20193 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 21 Dec 2018. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-20193 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-2018-20193/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-20193/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-20193
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-20193
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-20193

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-20193/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.