CVE-2018-20250
Path Traversal in Rarlab Winrar ≤ 5.61
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2018-20250 is a high-severity Absolute Path Traversal (CWE-36) vulnerability in Rarlab Winrar. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked in the top 0.1% 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.
In WinRAR versions prior to and including 5.61, a path traversal vulnerability exists in the handling of the ACE archive format within UNACEV2.dll. By manipulating the filename field with specific patterns, an attacker can cause the extraction routine to ignore the user-specified destination folder and treat the supplied path as absolute, corresponding to CWE-36 and CWE-22.
The flaw can be exploited by an attacker who supplies a crafted ACE archive to a local user. With low attack complexity and no privileges required, successful exploitation allows arbitrary file writes outside the intended extraction directory, resulting in high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability as reflected in the CVSS 7.8 score.
Public references document working proof-of-concept code, a Metasploit module, and detailed technical analysis demonstrating remote code execution via malicious archives, confirming the issue has been weaponized in public tooling.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2018-12813
Vulnerability Data
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…
more
treating the filename as an absolute path.
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 15 February 2022
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V5.3.2
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.
Validates pathnames and filenames to prevent traversal outside intended directories.
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.
Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.
Secure SDLC practices directly require input validation and path sanitization that prevent absolute path traversal.
PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.
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.