Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2018-7408

An issue was discovered in an npm 5.7.0 2018-02-21 pre-release (marked as "next: 5.7.0" and therefore automatically installed by an "npm upgrade -g npm" command, and also announced in the vendor's blog without mention of pre-release status). It might allow local users to bypass intended filesystem access restrictions because ownerships of /etc and /usr directories are being changed unexpectedly, related to a "correctMkdir" issue.

Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a HIGH severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.8, requiring local system access to exploit with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction requiring only low-level privileges . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), integrity (unauthorized modifications), and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 1 product from npmjs organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

First disclosed in 2018, this vulnerability was reported during a period defined by widespread IoT adoption challenges, mobile security concerns, and the emergence of advanced persistent threat (APT) techniques. Contemporary mitigation strategies focused on secure development practices and third-party component vetting.

Published

2018-02-22T18:29:00.253

Last Modified

2024-11-21T04:12:05.503

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.0: 7.8 (HIGH)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Access Vector: LOCAL
Access Complexity: LOW
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: PARTIAL
Integrity Impact: PARTIAL
Availability Impact: PARTIAL

Exploitability Score

3.9

Impact Score

6.4

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-732

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Application	npmjs	npm	5.7.0	Yes

References

http://blog.npmjs.org/post/171169301000/v571 Vendor Advisory ([email protected])
https://github.com/npm/npm/commit/74e149da6efe6ed89477faa81fef08eee7999ad0 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/19883 Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://blog.npmjs.org/post/171169301000/v571 Vendor Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://github.com/npm/npm/commit/74e149da6efe6ed89477faa81fef08eee7999ad0 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://github.com/npm/npm/issues/19883 Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For npmjs's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.