CVE-2018-10361
An issue was discovered in KTextEditor 5.34.0 through 5.45.0. Insecure handling of temporary...
An issue was discovered in KTextEditor 5.34.0 through 5.45.0. Insecure handling of temporary files in the KTextEditor's kauth_ktexteditor_helper service (as utilized in the Kate text editor) can allow other unprivileged users on the local system to gain root privileges. The attack occurs when one user (who has an unprivileged account but is also able to authenticate as root) writes a text file using Kate into a directory owned by a another unprivileged user. The latter unprivileged user conducts a symlink attack to achieve privilege escalation.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
7.8
An issue was discovered in KTextEditor 5.34.0 through 5.45.0. Insecure handling of temporary files in the KTextEditor's kauth_ktexteditor_helper service (as utilized in the Kate text editor) can allow other unprivileged users on the local system to gain root privileges. The attack occurs when one user (who has an unprivileged account but is also able to authenticate as root) writes a text file using Kate into a directory owned by a another unprivileged user. The latter unprivileged user conducts a symlink attack to achieve privilege escalation.
- Record
CVE-2018-10361- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 7.2 High
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C - Weakness
- CWE-668
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
An issue was discovered in KTextEditor 5.34.0 through 5.45.0. Insecure handling of temporary files in the KTextEditor's kauth_ktexteditor_helper service (as utilized in the Kate text editor) can allow other unprivileged users on the local system to gain root privileges. The attack occurs when one user (who has an unprivileged account but is also able to authenticate as root) writes a text file using Kate into a directory owned by a another unprivileged user. The latter unprivileged user conducts a symlink attack to achieve privilege escalation.
- Record
CVE-2018-10361- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2018-2435 No score
An issue was discovered in KTextEditor 5.34.0 through 5.45.0. Insecure handling of temporary files in the KTextEditor's kauth_ktexteditor_helper service (as utilized in the Kate text editor) can allow other unprivileged users on the local system to gain root privileges. The attack occurs when one user (who has an unprivileged account but is also able to authenticate as root) writes a text file using Kate into a directory owned by a another unprivileged user. The latter unprivileged user conducts a symlink attack to achieve privilege escalation.
- Record
EUVD-2018-2435- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-4w86-wmpg-xc6m
7.8
An issue was discovered in KTextEditor 5.34.0 through 5.45.0. Insecure handling of temporary...
An issue was discovered in KTextEditor 5.34.0 through 5.45.0. Insecure handling of temporary files in the KTextEditor's kauth_ktexteditor_helper service (as utilized in the Kate text editor) can allow other unprivileged users on the local system to gain root privileges. The attack occurs when one user (who has an unprivileged account but is also able to authenticate as root) writes a text file using Kate into a directory owned by a another unprivileged user. The latter unprivileged user conducts a symlink attack to achieve privilege escalation.
- Record
GHSA-4w86-wmpg-xc6m- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-668
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
7.8
An issue was discovered in KTextEditor 5.34.0 through 5.45.0. Insecure handling of temporary files in the KTextEditor's kauth_ktexteditor_helper service (as utilized in the Kate text editor) can allow other unprivileged users on the local system to gain root privileges. The attack occurs when one user (who has an unprivileged account but is also able to authenticate as root) writes a text file using Kate into a directory owned by a another unprivileged user. The latter unprivileged user conducts a symlink attack to achieve privilege escalation.
- Record
CVE-2018-10361- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2018-10361
7.8
An issue was discovered in KTextEditor 5.34.0 through 5.45.0. Insecure handling of temporary files in the KTextEditor's kauth_ktexteditor_helper service (as utilized in the Kate text editor) can allow other unprivileged users on the local system to gain root privileges. The attack occurs when one user (who has an unprivileged account but is also able to authenticate as root) writes a text file using Kate into a directory owned by a another unprivileged user. The latter unprivileged user conducts a symlink attack to achieve privilege escalation.
- Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2018-10361- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2018-10361
7.8
An issue was discovered in KTextEditor 5.34.0 through 5.45.0. Insecure handling of temporary files in the KTextEditor's kauth_ktexteditor_helper service (as utilized in the Kate text editor) can allow other unprivileged users on the local system to gain root privileges. The attack occurs when one user (who has an unprivileged account but is also able to authenticate as root) writes a text file using Kate into a directory owned by a another unprivileged user. The latter unprivileged user conducts a symlink attack to achieve privilege escalation.
- Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2018-10361- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2024:10900-1 No score
ktexteditor-5.86.0-1.3 on GA media
These are all security issues fixed in the ktexteditor-5.86.0-1.3 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2024:10900-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
ktexteditorDebian:12 |
before 5.47.0-1 | 5.47.0-1 |
ktexteditorDebian:13 |
before 5.47.0-1 | 5.47.0-1 |
ktexteditorDebian:14 |
before 5.47.0-1 | 5.47.0-1 |
ktexteditorUbuntu:18.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 5.38.0-0ubuntu15.38.0-0ubuntu1.15.38.0-0ubuntu25.40.0-0ubuntu15.41.0-0ubuntu2 Show 4 moreShow less5.42.0-0ubuntu15.43.0-0ubuntu25.44.0-0ubuntu15.44.0-0ubuntu2 |
None known |
ktexteditoropenSUSE:Tumbleweed |
before 5.86.0-1.3 | 5.86.0-1.3 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2018-10361 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.8) in Kde Ktexteditor, published April 25, 2018. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.38%, the 32nd percentile. Fixed in ktexteditor 5.47.0-1.
References
openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2018/04/24/1
bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1033055
openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/07/09/3
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-10361
github.com/advisories/GHSA-4w86-wmpg-xc6m
security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-10361
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-10361
cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-10361
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-10361