# CVE-2020-27187: Privilege escalation in n/a

> A local attacker can exploit a D-Bus validation flaw in KDE Partition Manager to execute privileged commands and gain root access.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/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:** Yes
- **Published:** 26 Oct 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2020-27187, GHSA-gpcw-46fq-3vqf, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-27187

## What is CVE-2020-27187?

CVE-2020-27187 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 26 Oct 2020. 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 KDE Partition Manager 4.1.0 before 4.2.0. The kpmcore_externalcommand helper contains a logic flaw in which the service invoking D-Bus is not properly checked. An attacker on the local machine can replace /etc/fstab, and execute mount and other partitioning related commands, while KDE Partition Manager is running. the mount command can then be used to gain full root privileges.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-27187?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Kde Partition Manager.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-27187?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2020-27187 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-27187 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-27187 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-27187 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 26 Oct 2020. 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-2020-27187 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-2020-27187/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-27187/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-27187
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-27187
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-27187

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-27187/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.