What is CVE-2018-20167?

CVE-2018-20167 is a high-severity vulnerability in Enlightenment Terminology, classified under Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component (Injection). CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2018-12-17.

How severe is CVE-2018-20167?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.

Vulnerability in Enlightenment Terminology

CVE-2018-20167

Terminology before 1.3.1 allows Remote Code Execution because popmedia is mishandled, as demonstrated by an unsafe "cat README.md" command when \e}pn is used. A popmedia control sequence can allow the malicious execution of executable file formats registered in the X desktop share MIME types (/usr/share/applications). The control sequence defers unknown file types to the handle_unknown_media() function, which executes xdg-open against the filename specified in the sequence. The use of xdg-open for all unknown file types allows executable file formats with a registered shared MIME type to be executed. An attacker can achieve remote code execution by introducing an executable file and a plain text file containing the control sequence through a fake software project (e.g., in Git or a tarball). When the control sequence is rendered (such as with cat), the executable file will be run.

Published 2018-12-17 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.027 (85.2th percentile), scored 2026-09-29.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 85th percentile — 85.2% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.027 · newest: 0.027 · change: +0.000

Affected products

Enlightenment Terminology

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-74 — Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component (Injection)

References

www.enlightenment.org/news/2018-12-16-terminology-1.3.1 (Mitigation, Vendor Advisory)
phab.enlightenment.org/T7504 (Exploit, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory)
phab.enlightenment.org/rTRM1ac204da9148e7bccb1b5f34b523e2094dfc39e2 (Patch, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-20167?: CVE-2018-20167 is a high-severity vulnerability in Enlightenment Terminology, classified under Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component (Injection). CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2018-12-17.
How severe is CVE-2018-20167?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.