CVE-2018-20250In WinRAR versions prior to and including 5.61, There is path traversal vulnerability when crafting the filename field of the ACE format…
- 7.8HighCVSS base score
- 96.0%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 0.1% of all CVEs
- YesKnown exploitedin CISA's KEV since 15 Feb 2022
- 3Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
In WinRAR versions prior to and including 5.61, There is path traversal vulnerability when crafting the filename field of the ACE format (in UNACEV2.dll). When the filename field is manipulated with specific patterns, the destination (extraction) folder is ignored, thus treating the filename as an absolute path.
Exploited in the wild
CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as WinRAR Absolute Path Traversal Vulnerability.
- Added
- 15 Feb 2022
- Fix due (US federal)
- 15 Aug 2022
- Used by ransomware
- Known
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
ENISA's EU Vulnerability Database lists it as exploited, from CISA's KEV, since 15 Feb 2022.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list a Metasploit module and 2 Exploit-DB entries for it. 2 references of the record are tagged as an exploit. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: it is being exploited.
Show the exploits5
Metasploit modules1 module
- RARLAB WinRAR ACE Format Input Validation Remote Code Execution (Metasploit module) (opens in a new tab)
exploit/windows/fileformat/winrar_aceRank excellentdisclosed 5 Feb 2019
Exploit-DB2 entries
- RARLAB WinRAR 5.61 - ACE Format Input Validation Remote Code Execution (Metasploit) (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 46756local, windowspublished 25 Apr 2019Verified
- WinRAR 5.61 - Path Traversal (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 46552local, windowspublished 22 Feb 2019Verified
References tagged exploit2 references
- 46552 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- 46756 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By checkpoint
- 48 days later
· 48 days later
Published
- 3 years later
· 3 years later
Added to CISA KEV
Known exploited, also by ransomware
- 4 years later
· 4 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CISA-ADPADP (enrichment) | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 96.0% · top 0.1% of all CVEs (14 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.8.
Affected products
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. · WinRAR
- affected All versions prior and including 5.61
References
References9
- https://github.com/blau72/CVE-2018-20250-WinRAR-ACE (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://research.checkpoint.com/extracting-code-execution-from-winrar/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 46552 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- 106948 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- https://www.win-rar.com/whatsnew.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/152618/RARLAB-WinRAR-ACE-Format-Input-Validation-Remote-Code-Execution.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- http://www.rapid7.com/db/modules/exploit/windows/fileformat/winrar_ace (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 46756 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2018-20250 (opens in a new tab)government-resource
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- CISA KEV catalog (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2018-12813 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2018-20250)Record last updated .