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CVE-2018-20839 systemd

Affected softwaresystemd
Severity4.3 Medium CVSS 3.1 2 scores
Published17 May 2019
Updated17 Jun 2026

Description

systemd 242 changes the VT1 mode upon a logout, which allows attackers to read cleartext passwords in certain circumstances, such as watching a shutdown, or using Ctrl-Alt-F1 and Ctrl-Alt-F2. This occurs because the KDGKBMODE (aka current keyboard mode) check is mishandled.

Exploitation status

No public exploit

No exploit has been reported in the sources we check. Published 7 years ago.

  • CISA KEV not listed
  • VulnCheck KEV not listed
  • CISA Vulnrichment no assessment published
  • Indexed PoC none indexed
  • EPSS 2.5% chance in 30 days

Waratek protection

Outside Waratek scope

A Java vulnerability, but not one Waratek protects. It affects only Java on a user's desktop (applets, Web Start, JavaFX, the installer), sits in a product the Waratek agent can't be installed into, or is in a package we don't expect in business applications. The decision below says which.

  • Protection none
  • Action not pursued none
  • Review human Researcher
  • Record active
Decided by Manual classification of this CVE in the legacy dataset
Finding A manual classification set this CVE's status to Outside Waratek scope, but the CVE names a tracked product.

CVSS

4.3 MEDIUM v3.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N 2 metrics

We show the highest score from the newest CVSS version. Scores from different versions can't be compared, and the first score listed is sometimes a 0.0 placeholder.

VersionScoreBandVectorAssignerType
CVSS 3.1 4.3 MEDIUM CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N NVD Primary published
CVSS 2.0 4.3 none AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N NVD Primary

Affected software and releases

Products and versions

4 products, 4 version entries
SourceVendorProductSchemeAffected versions
nvd netapp cn1610 firmware generic any version
nvd netapp snapprotect generic any version
nvd netapp solidfire \& hci management node generic any version
nvd systemd project systemd generic 242

References

URLTags
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/108389 Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/systemd/+bug/1803993 Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/systemd/systemd/commit/9725f1a10f80f5e0ae7d9b60547458622aeb322f Patch
https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/12378 Issue Tracking, Patch
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rf9fa47ab66495c78bb4120b0754dd9531ca2ff0430f6685ac9b07772%40%3Cdev.mina.apache.org%3E Mailing List
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190530-0002/ Third Party Advisory

Timeline

Published2019-05-17By the CVE Program.
NVD record modified2026-06-17NVD's own last-modified date for this record.