Security Resilience

CVE-2018-11138

RCE in Quest Kace System Management Appliance 8.0.318

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedPublic PoCRansomware-linkedRCECommand Injection
Published
31 May 2018
Modified
13 August 2026
KEV Added
25 March 2022
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.92 99.8th percentile
Risk Priority 97 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2018-11138 is a critical-severity OS Command Injection (CWE-78) vulnerability in Quest Kace System Management Appliance. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique NTDS (T1003.003); ranked in the top 0.2% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

The vulnerability tracked as CVE-2018-11138 affects the Quest KACE System Management Appliance version 8.0.318. Specifically, the script at /common/download_agent_installer.php can be reached without authentication and permits injection of operating system commands, corresponding to CWE-78. The issue received a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8, reflecting network-accessible exploitation with no required credentials or user interaction and full impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

An unauthenticated attacker can send crafted requests to the script over the network and execute arbitrary commands on the underlying appliance. Successful exploitation grants the attacker the ability to run code with the privileges of the web server process, potentially leading to complete system compromise.

Public exploit code has been available since 2018, and the vulnerability appears in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, confirming observed in-the-wild use. Core Security published a detailed advisory describing multiple related issues in the same product.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

The '/common/download_agent_installer.php' script in the Quest KACE System Management Appliance 8.0.318 is accessible by anonymous users and can be abused to execute arbitrary commands on the system.

CWE(s)
CWE-78
KEV Date Added
25 March 2022

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1003.003 NTDS Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access or create a copy of the Active Directory domain database in order to steal credential information, as well as obtain other information about domain members such as devices, users, and access rights.
attack.mitre.org →
T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
attack.mitre.org →
T1010 Application Window Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of open application windows.
attack.mitre.org →
T1021.004 SSH Lateral Movement
Adversaries may use [Valid Accounts](https://attack.
attack.mitre.org →
T1021.008 Direct Cloud VM Connections Lateral Movement
Adversaries may leverage [Valid Accounts](https://attack.
attack.mitre.org →
T1027.001 Binary Padding Stealth
Adversaries may use binary padding to add junk data and change the on-disk representation of malware.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-9787Same vendor: Quest
CVE-2025-54948Shared CWE-78both on KEV
CVE-2019-15107Shared CWE-78both on KEV
CVE-2025-11953Shared CWE-78both on KEV
CVE-2023-28771Shared CWE-78both on KEV
CVE-2017-6884Shared CWE-78both on KEV
CVE-2026-73570Shared CWE-78both on KEV
CVE-2022-26258Shared CWE-78both on KEV
CVE-2014-7169Shared CWE-78both on KEV
CVE-2024-9463Shared CWE-78both on KEV

Affected Assets

quest
kace system management appliance
8.0.318

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.2.5
  • V1.2.8

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

SC-27 Platform-independent Applications
addresses: CWE-78

Platform-independent apps typically execute inside a managed runtime or sandbox that restricts direct OS command execution, reducing the ability to exploit OS command injection.

SI-10 Information Input Validation
addresses: CWE-78

Validates inputs to block special elements that would alter OS command execution.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
blocks

PR.PS-06's SDLC practices directly require secure coding and input handling that blocks command-injection defects, yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors and verification gaps unaddressed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
blocks

Routine patching/maintenance can remediate known command-injection CVEs in dependencies (partial forward) but does nothing to stop developers from introducing improper neutralization in custom code (none reverse).

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
removes
A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.8.10 Information deletion partial match
removes

References