What is CVE-2018-17613?

CVE-2018-17613 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Telegram Desktop, classified under Insufficiently Protected Credentials. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2018-09-28.

How severe is CVE-2018-17613?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.

Vulnerability in Telegram Desktop

CVE-2018-17613

Telegram Desktop (aka tdesktop) 1.3.16 alpha, when "Use proxy" is enabled, sends credentials and application data in cleartext over the SOCKS5 protocol.

Published 2018-09-28 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.016 (75.2th percentile), scored 2026-10-01.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 75th percentile — 75.2% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.016 · newest: 0.016 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Telegram Desktop — versions 1.3.16

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-522 — Insufficiently Protected Credentials

References

seclists.org/oss-sec/2018/q3/280 (Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
www.inputzero.io/2018/09/telegram-share-password-in-cleartext.html (Third Party Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-17613?: CVE-2018-17613 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Telegram Desktop, classified under Insufficiently Protected Credentials. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2018-09-28.
How severe is CVE-2018-17613?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.