Packagekit
CVE-2020-16121
LOW
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A10:2025 - Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions
ASVS 5.0
V16 - Security Logging and Error Handling Error message sanitization
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: 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 3.3 (LOW). 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 | Successful exploitation could compromise the low-severity affected system. |
Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.
Alert meAnalysisAI
PackageKit provided detailed error messages to unprivileged callers that exposed information about file presence and mimetype of files that the user would be unable to determine on its own. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), 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. Apply vendor patches when available. Implement network segmentation and monitoring as interim mitigations.
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 under CWE-209. PackageKit provided detailed error messages to unprivileged callers that exposed information about file presence and mimetype of files that the user would be unable to determine on its own. Affected products include: Packagekit Project Packagekit, Canonical Ubuntu Linux.
Know when Packagekit 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:L/I:N/A:N
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
PackageKit provided detailed error messages to unprivileged callers that exposed information about file presence and mimetype of files that the user would be unable to determine on its own.
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
More in Packagekit
View allLocal privilege escalation in PackageKit 1.0.2-1.3.4 allows unprivileged Linux users to install arbitrary RPM packages a
PackageKit's apt backend mistakenly treated all local debs as trusted. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerabilit
Improper authorization in PackageKit up to 1.3.5 allows a low-privileged authenticated remote attacker to bypass access
An authentication bypass flaw has been found in PackageKit before 1.1.10 that allows users without administrator privile
A flaw was found in PackageKit in the way some of the methods exposed by the Transaction interface examines files. Rated
The Zypper (aka zypp) backend in PackageKit before 0.8.8 allows local users to downgrade packages via the "install updat
A use-after-free flaw was found in PackageKitd. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.3), this vulnerability is low attack complexi
GitHub PoC
Exploit-DB