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Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2018-20843

high Nessus Plugin ID 252673

Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

 - In libexpat in Expat before 2.2.7, XML input including XML names that contain a large number of colons could make the XML parser consume a high amount of RAM and CPU resources while processing (enough to be usable for denial-of-service attacks). (CVE-2018-20843)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

See Also

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-20843

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-20843

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 252673

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2018_20843.nasl

Version: 1.2

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 8/20/2025

Updated: 8/20/2025

Supported Sensors: Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 4.4

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.8

Temporal Score: 6.1

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2018-20843

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.5

Temporal Score: 6.7

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:P/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:11.0, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:cableswig, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:cadaver, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:coin3, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:ayttm, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:sitecopy, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:12.0, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:vnc4, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:xmlrpc-c, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:matanza, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:insighttoolkit, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:insighttoolkit4, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:25.04, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:libxmltok, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:swish-e, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:libxmltok

Required KB Items: Host/cpu, Host/local_checks_enabled, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 6/24/2019

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2018-20843