• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

Microsoft linked attacks on SharePoint flaws to China-nexus actors

 | 

Cisco confirms active exploitation of ISE and ISE-PIC flaws

 | 

SharePoint under fire: new ToolShell attacks target enterprises

 | 

CrushFTP zero-day actively exploited at least since July 18

 | 

Hardcoded credentials found in HPE Aruba Instant On Wi-Fi devices

 | 

MuddyWater deploys new DCHSpy variants amid Iran-Israel conflict

 | 

U.S. CISA urges to immediately patch Microsoft SharePoint flaw adding it to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Microsoft issues emergency patches for SharePoint zero-days exploited in "ToolShell" attacks

 | 

SharePoint zero-day CVE-2025-53770 actively exploited in the wild

 | 

Singapore warns China-linked group UNC3886 targets its critical infrastructure

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Fortinet FortiWeb flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 54

 | 

Security Affairs newsletter Round 533 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

 | 

Radiology Associates of Richmond data breach impacts 1.4 million people

 | 

Fortinet FortiWeb flaw CVE-2025-25257 exploited hours after PoC release

 | 

Authorities released free decryptor for Phobos and 8base ransomware

 | 

Anne Arundel Dermatology data breach impacts 1.9 million people

 | 

LameHug: first AI-Powered malware linked to Russia’s APT28

 | 

5 Features Every AI-Powered SOC Platform Needs in 2025

 | 

Broadcom patches critical VMware flaws exploited at Pwn2Own Berlin 2025

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Breaking News
  • Hacking
  • CVE-2018-14665 privilege escalation flaw affects popular Linux distros

CVE-2018-14665 privilege escalation flaw affects popular Linux distros

Pierluigi Paganini October 26, 2018

Security researcher discovered a highly critical vulnerability (CVE-2018-14665) in X.Org Server package that affects major Linux distributions.

The Indian security researcher Narendra Shinde has discovered a highly critical vulnerability (CVE-2018-14665) in X.Org Server package that affects major Linux distributions, including OpenBSD, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Red Hat, and Fedora.

Xorg X project provides an open source implementation of the X Window System (aka X11, or simply X, that is a windowing system for bitmap displays. It provides the basic framework for a GUI environment: drawing and moving windows on the display device and interacting with a mouse and keyboard.

Shinde discovered that Xorg X server doesn’t correctly handle and validate arguments for at least the following two command-line parameters:

  • -modulepath: to set a directory path to search for Xorg server modules,
  • -logfile: to set a new log file for the Xorg server, instead of using the default log  located at /var/log/Xorg.n.log on most platforms.

According to Narendra Shinde a low-privileged user could exploit it to execute malicious code and overwrite any file on the system

“X.org X Server application is vulnerable to privilege escalation issue. X.org X Server  application allows lower privileged user to create or overwrite file anywhere on system , including files owned by privileged users (ex. /etc/shadow).” reads the advisory published by the expert.

“The attacker needs to have active console session to exploit this issue.”

The flaw was introduced in X.Org server 1.19.0 package more than two years ago.

Xorg published a security advisory on the CVE-2018-14665 flaw.

“When the X server is running with elevated privileges (i.e., when Xorg is installed with the setuid bit set and started by a non-root user).” reads the Xorg advisory. 

“The -modulepath argument can be used to specify an insecure path to modules that are going to be loaded in the X server, allowing to execute unprivileged code in the privileged process.

The -logfile argument can be used to overwrite arbitrary files in the file system, due to incorrect checks in the parsing of the option.”

The security expert Matthew Hickey also published a proof-of-concept exploit code that could allow an attacker to take over vulnerable systems with 3 commands or less.

OpenBSD #0day Xorg LPE via CVE-2018-14665 can be triggered from a remote SSH session, does not need to be on a local console. An attacker can literally take over impacted systems with 3 commands or less. exploit https://t.co/3FqgJPeCvO 🙄 pic.twitter.com/8HCBXwBj5M

— hackerfantastic.x (@hackerfantastic) October 25, 2018

#CVE-2018-14665 – a LPE exploit via https://t.co/eax3fvaAjE fits in a tweet

cd /etc; Xorg -fp "root::16431:0:99999:7:::" -logfile shadow :1;su

Overwrite shadow (or any) file on most Linux, get root privileges. *BSD and any other Xorg desktop also affected.

— hackerfantastic.x (@hackerfantastic) October 25, 2018

The X.Org foundation addressed the vulnerability with the release of the X.Org Server version 1.20.3.

Major distros, including OpenBSD, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Red Hat, and Fedora have published security advisories for the CVE-2018-14665 flaw.

[adrotate banner=”9″] [adrotate banner=”12″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – CVE-2018-14665, hacking)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]


facebook linkedin twitter

CVE-2018-14665 Hacking LINUX Linux Xorg X Pierluigi Paganini Security Affairs

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 23, 2025
Microsoft linked attacks on SharePoint flaws to China-nexus actors
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 22, 2025
Cisco confirms active exploitation of ISE and ISE-PIC flaws
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    Microsoft linked attacks on SharePoint flaws to China-nexus actors

    APT / July 23, 2025

    Cisco confirms active exploitation of ISE and ISE-PIC flaws

    Hacking / July 22, 2025

    SharePoint under fire: new ToolShell attacks target enterprises

    Hacking / July 22, 2025

    CrushFTP zero-day actively exploited at least since July 18

    Hacking / July 22, 2025

    Hardcoded credentials found in HPE Aruba Instant On Wi-Fi devices

    Security / July 22, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT