Vulnerability Report

CVE-2018-20225

Title: Pypa Pip Improper Input Validation

Input Validation Error

Proof Of Concept

PoC Available for CVE-2018-20225

CWE Category CWE-20
Published Date May 08, 2020
Modified Date Apr 15, 2026
Exploit Status Available
Score 7.8 CVSS v3.1
Exploit Probability (EPSS)
1.74%

Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2018-20225: An issue was discovered in pip (all versions) because it installs the version with the highest version number, even if the user had intended to obtain a private package from a private index. This only affects use of the --extra-index-url option, and exploitation requires that the package does not already exist in the public index (and thus the attacker can put the package there with an arbitrary version number). NOTE: it has been reported that this is intended functionality and the user is responsible for using --extra-index-url securely

Impacted Vendors

P
pypa 1

Reference Links

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1835736 https://cowlicks.website/posts/arbitrary-code-execution-from-pips-extra-index-url.html https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rb1adce798445facd032870d644eb39c4baaf9c4a7dd5477d12bb6ab2%40%3Cgithub.arrow.apache.org%3E https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/news/ https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1835736 https://cowlicks.website/posts/arbitrary-code-execution-from-pips-extra-index-url.html https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rb1adce798445facd032870d644eb39c4baaf9c4a7dd5477d12bb6ab2%40%3Cgithub.arrow.apache.org%3E https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/news/
CVSS v3.1
Source Entity [email protected]
Severity HIGH
7.8
Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
N/A
Interaction
REQUIRED
Confidentiality
N/A
Integrity
N/A
Availability
N/A
Scope
UNCHANGED
RAW VECTOR CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS v3.1
Source Entity 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
Severity HIGH
7.8
Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
N/A
Interaction
REQUIRED
Confidentiality
N/A
Integrity
N/A
Availability
N/A
Scope
UNCHANGED
RAW VECTOR CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS v2.0
Source Entity [email protected]
Severity MEDIUM
6.8
Access Vector
N/A
Authentication
N/A
RAW VECTOR AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Associated Attack Patterns (CAPEC)

Total: Patterns

CVE-2018-20225 Exploits & PoCs (Proof Of Concept)

GitHub https://github.com/brabster/cve-2018-20225
View Code
MODIFIED

Vulnerability data updated via NVD.

MODIFIED

Vulnerability data or affected products updated.

PUBLISHED

Vulnerability first announced in NVD.

Attack Vector Matrix

Access Vector LOCAL
Complexity LOW
Privileges N/A
Interaction REQUIRED
CVSS Vector String CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected Stack

No specific products linked.