Patch
CVE-2019-13638
HIGH
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A05:2025 - Injection
ASVS 5.0
V1 - Encoding and Sanitization OS command sanitization, avoid shell exec
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 1 tactic: Execution 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, no privileges required, user interaction required. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A local attacker with access to the system could execute arbitrary operating system commands on the host. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
GNU patch through 2.7.6 is vulnerable to OS shell command injection that can be exploited by opening a crafted patch file that contains an ed style diff payload with shell metacharacters. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is no authentication required, low attack complexity. This OS Command Injection vulnerability could allow attackers to execute arbitrary operating system commands on the host.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Avoid passing user input to shell commands. Use language-specific APIs instead of shell execution. Apply strict input validation with allowlists.
Affects your stack
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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 OS Command Injection (CWE-78), which allows attackers to execute arbitrary operating system commands on the host. GNU patch through 2.7.6 is vulnerable to OS shell command injection that can be exploited by opening a crafted patch file that contains an ed style diff payload with shell metacharacters. The ed editor does not need to be present on the vulnerable system. This is different from CVE-2018-1000156. Affected products include: Gnu Patch, Debian Debian Linux. Version information: through 2.7.6.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
GNU patch through 2.7.6 is vulnerable to OS shell command injection that can be exploited by opening a crafted patch file that contains an ed style diff payload with shell metacharacters. The ed editor does not need to be present on the vulnerable system. This is different from CVE-2018-1000156.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub
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
OS command injection occurs when an application passes unsanitized user input directly into system shell commands.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
An Invalid Pointer vulnerability exists in GNU patch 2.7 via the another_hunk function, which causes a Denial of Service
GNU patch 2.7.1 allows remote attackers to write to arbitrary files via a symlink attack in a patch file. Rated medium s
Directory traversal vulnerability in GNU patch versions which support Git-style patching before 2.7.3 allows remote atta
GNU Patch version 2.7.6 contains an input validation vulnerability when processing patch files, specifically the EDITOR_
A double free exists in the another_hunk function in pch.c in GNU patch through 2.7.6. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), t
An issue was discovered in GNU patch through 2.7.6. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely explo
Tanium addressed an incorrect default permissions vulnerability in Patch. [CVSS 6.5 MEDIUM]
An authenticated SQL injection (CWE-89) in the Tanium Patch module lets a low-privilege user with valid console credenti
SQL injection in Tanium Patch allows authenticated low-privilege attackers to read, modify, or delete data from the back
In GNU patch through 2.7.6, the following of symlinks is mishandled in certain cases other than input files. Rated mediu
GNU patch 2.7.2 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption and segmentation fa
GNU patch enters an infinite CPU-consuming loop when processing a specially crafted unified-diff file containing an exce
Exploit-DB