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CVE-2018-20781

35
FAUCET Score

CVE-2018-20781 describes a cleartext password exposure vulnerability in GNOME Keyring versions prior to 3.27.2, specifically within the pam/gkr-pam-module.c component. This flaw allows a session-child process spawned from LightDM to retain the user's password, making it accessible in cleartext. Rated with a CVSSv3.1 score of 7.8 (High), this local vulnerability (AV:L) has high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H). While not actively exploited in the wild (KEV: No), a Metasploit module named "MimiPenguin" exists, indicating exploitability, though there is minimal community discussion or media coverage surrounding this CVE.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
< 3.27.2CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:gnome:gnome_keyring:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
14.04CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
16.04CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
8.8CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:oracle:zfs_storage_appliance_kit:8.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.1

7.8HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
HIGH
Integrity Impact
HIGH
Availability Impact
HIGH
Exploitability Score
1.8
Impact Score
5.9
CvssVersion
3.1

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
1.48%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
71.3%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-27
Model: v2026.06.15
Metasploit: MimiPenguin · May 23, 2018
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.0148 is in the 95th percentile among its peer group of 17,061 CVEs.

Social Chatter

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.1 Reddit, 0.2 Bluesky, 0.1 Mastodon, and 0.2 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

No media coverage found for this CVE.

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.3 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Vendor Patches (2)

redhatend of lifevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6Fixed in: gnome-keyring
redhatend of lifevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7Fixed in: gnome-keyring

Vendor Advisories (1)

redhatCVE-2018-20781Low

gnome-keyring: user's login credentials is kept in a session-child process resulting in exposed plaintext password

Apr 19, 2017

References

bugs.launchpad.net / ubuntu/+source/gnome-keyring/+bug/1772919
Issue TrackingPatchThird Party Advisory
bugzilla.gnome.org / show_bug.cgi
Issue TrackingPatchVendor Advisory
github.com / huntergregal/mimipenguin
Third Party Advisory
github.com / huntergregal/mimipenguin/tree/d95f1e08ce79783794f38433bbf7de5abd9792da
Third Party Advisory
gitlab.gnome.org / GNOME/gnome-keyring/issues/3
Vendor Advisory
gitlab.gnome.org / GNOME/gnome-keyring/tags/3.27.2
Release NotesVendor Advisory
usn.ubuntu.com / 3894-1
Third Party Advisory
oracle.com / security-alerts/cpujan2021.html
Third Party Advisory