Improper privilege management in Apache Karaf
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Privilege escalation
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 8 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.0 · NVD. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-269.
Summary
In Apache Karaf prior to 4.2.0 release, if the sshd service in Karaf is left on so an administrator can manage the running instance, any user with rights to the Karaf console can pivot and read/write any file on the file system to which the Karaf process user has access. This can be locked down a bit by using chroot to change the root directory to protect files outside of the Karaf install directory; it can be further locked down by defining a security manager policy that limits file system access to those directories beneath the Karaf home that are necessary for the system to run. However, this still allows anyone with ssh access to the Karaf process to read and write a large number of files as the Karaf process user.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apache | Apache Karaf | prior to 4.2.0 release | — | No fix listed | CNA |
| — | org.apache.karaf:apache-karaf (Maven) | before 4.2.0 | 4.2.0 | Patch available | GHSA-9448-c9wq-jg9v |
- Apache Karaf VendorApache Affected prior to 4.2.0 release Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
- org.apache.karaf:apache-karaf (Maven) Vendor— Affected before 4.2.0 Fixed in 4.2.0 Patch available GHSA-9448-c9wq-jg9v
Remediation
- Fix · GHSA-9448-c9wq-jg9v org.apache.karaf:apache-karaf (Maven) Fixed in 4.2.0 Advisory →
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat JBoss A-MQ 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat JBoss Fuse 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat JBoss Fuse Service Works 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat OpenStack Platform 10 (Newton) | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat OpenStack Platform 12 (Pike) | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13 (Queens) | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat OpenStack Platform 8 (Liberty) | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat OpenStack Platform 9 (Mitaka) | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
Not affected: 1 product
- Red Hat Fuse 7
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2018-11786
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-9448-c9wq-jg9v
References
Patch 2
Advisory 2
More Apache Karaf vulnerabilities
- TI-2022-19035 Apache Karaf: JDBC JAAS LDAP injection CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2018-08445 XML external entity injection in Apache Karaf CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-61863 Missing authorization in Apache Karaf CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-61851 Apache Karaf: Path Traversal in Config Service Allows Manager-to-Admin Privilege Escalation CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2020-17076 An issue was discovered in Legion of the Bouncy Castle BC Java 1.65 and 1.66. CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.1
- TI-2026-61846 Apache Karaf: OS Command Injection in Child-Instance Launch (instance:* / InstancesMBean) CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
Sources
- CVE-2018-11786 · CVE Program
- CVE-2018-11786 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-9448-c9wq-jg9v · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2018-11786 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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