Wget
CVE-2018-20483
HIGH
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V14 - Data Protection Data exposure prevention
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Collection, Discovery The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 7.8 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: local attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction not required. Public proof-of-concept exploit code is available. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A local attacker with access to the system could access sensitive data that should not be disclosed. |
Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.
Alert meAnalysisAI
set_file_metadata in xattr.c in GNU Wget before 1.20.1 stores a file's origin URL in the user.xdg.origin.url metadata attribute of the extended attributes of the downloaded file, which allows local. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and no vendor patch available.
RemediationAI
No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Minimize information in error messages, implement proper access controls, encrypt sensitive data at rest and in transit.
Affects your stack
Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as Exposure of Sensitive Information (CWE-200), which allows attackers to access sensitive data that should not be disclosed. set_file_metadata in xattr.c in GNU Wget before 1.20.1 stores a file's origin URL in the user.xdg.origin.url metadata attribute of the extended attributes of the downloaded file, which allows local users to obtain sensitive information (e.g., credentials contained in the URL) by reading this attribute, as demonstrated by getfattr. This also applies to Referer information in the user.xdg.referrer.url metadata attribute. According to 2016-07-22 in the Wget ChangeLog, user.xdg.origin.url was partially based on the behavior of fwrite_xattr in tool_xattr.c in curl. Affected products include: Gnu Wget. Version information: before 1.20.1.
Know when Wget gets its next vulnerability
- Watch products and get an email when something new is published
- Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
No credit card · 7-day full trial
Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
set_file_metadata in xattr.c in GNU Wget before 1.20.1 stores a file's origin URL in the user.xdg.origin.url metadata attribute of the extended attributes of the downloaded file, which allows local users to obtain sensitive information (e.g., credentials contained in the URL) by reading this attribute, as demonstrated by getfattr. This also applies to Referer information in the user.xdg.referrer.url metadata attribute. According to 2016-07-22 in the Wget ChangeLog, user.xdg.origin.url was partially based on the behavior of fwrite_xattr in tool_xattr.c in curl.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
Absolute path traversal vulnerability in GNU Wget before 1.16, when recursion is enabled, allows remote FTP servers to w
GNU wget before 1.18 allows remote servers to write to arbitrary files by redirecting a request from HTTP to a crafted F
The http.c:skip_short_body() function is called in some circumstances, such as when processing redirects. Rated high sev
Race condition in wget 1.17 and earlier, when used in recursive or mirroring mode to download a single file, might allow
The retr.c:fd_read_body() function is called when processing OK responses. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerab
GNU Wget before 1.19.5 is prone to a cookie injection vulnerability in the resp_new function in http.c via a \r\n sequen
CRLF injection vulnerability in the url_parse function in url.c in Wget through 1.19.1 allows remote attackers to inject
Buffer overflow in GNU Wget 1.20.1 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial-of-service (DoS) or may execute
url.c in GNU Wget through 1.24.5 mishandles semicolons in the userinfo subcomponent of a URI, and thus there may be inse
Denial of service in GNU Wget through 1.25.0 lets a malicious or compromised HTTP(S) server crash the client by serving
Local cross-user code execution with privilege-escalation potential affects the Windows builds of GNU wget distributed b
Integer overflow in GNU Wget through 1.25.0 allows a malicious or compromised web server to corrupt client download sess
GitHub PoC
Exploit-DB