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Vulnerability record · CVE-2018-20483 · published 26 December 2018

CVE-2018-20483: Gnu wget information exposure vulnerability

Gnu · Wget

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.

7.8 CVSS 3.0 High EPSS 0.66% · top 50.5% CWE-200 · Information exposure
7.8CVSS 3.0 base score, v2 2.1
0.66%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
1Affected product versions listed by NVD
14References, 2 tagged exploit
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

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.

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

Affected products

1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/wget.git/tree/NEWS Release NotesThird Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/106358 Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:3701
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201903-08 Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190321-0002/
https://twitter.com/marcan42/status/1077676739877232640 ExploitThird Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3943-1/
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/wget.git/tree/NEWS Release NotesThird Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/106358 Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:3701
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201903-08 Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190321-0002/
https://twitter.com/marcan42/status/1077676739877232640 ExploitThird Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3943-1/

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Related vulnerabilities

Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.

9.8CVE-2019-5953Gnu wget out-of-bounds write vulnerabilityBuffer overflow in GNU Wget 1.20.1 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial-of-service (DoS) or may execute an arbitrary code via unspec…EPSS 5.9%9.3CVE-2014-4877Gnu wget path traversal vulnerabilityAbsolute path traversal vulnerability in GNU Wget before 1.16, when recursion is enabled, allows remote FTP servers to write to arbitrary files, and …EPSS 40%9.1CVE-2024-38428Gnu wget interpretation conflict vulnerabilityurl.c in GNU Wget through 1.24.5 mishandles semicolons in the userinfo subcomponent of a URI, and thus there may be insecure behavior in which data t…EPSS 0.67%8.8CVE-2017-13089GNU Wget chunked transfer parser stack buffer overflowWget before 1.19.2 fails to validate that a chunk length in a chunked HTTP response is non-negative. A negative length is passed through MIN() to fd_…EPSS 80%analysed8.8CVE-2017-13090Gnu wget heap-based buffer overflow vulnerabilityThe retr.c:fd_read_body() function is called when processing OK responses. When the response is sent chunked in wget before 1.19.2, the chunk parser …EPSS 37%8.8CVE-2016-4971GNU wget HTTP-to-FTP redirect arbitrary file writeGNU wget before 1.18 follows a server-supplied redirect from HTTP to a crafted FTP resource and writes the retrieved content to an attacker-chosen pa…EPSS 46%analysed8.7CVE-2026-58469Gnu wget out-of-bounds read vulnerabilityGNU Wget through 1.25.0, fixed in commit 37a40fc, contains a heap buffer underread vulnerability in the clean_metalink_string() function within src/m…EPSS 0.49%8.1CVE-2016-7098Gnu wget race condition vulnerabilityRace condition in wget 1.17 and earlier, when used in recursive or mirroring mode to download a single file, might allow remote servers to bypass int…EPSS 7.5%

Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2018-20483), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-26). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.