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Fencer Vulns
medium 6.6

CVE-2018-14665 json

A flaw was found in xorg-x11-server before 1.20.3.

published 2018-10-25 8 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2018-6560

cvss
6.6
version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
27.2%
EPSS 27.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 98%
public exploits
11
Metasploit, Exploit-DB

Summary

A flaw was found in xorg-x11-server before 1.20.3. An incorrect permission check for -modulepath and -logfile options when starting Xorg. X server allows unprivileged users with the ability to log in to the system via physical console to escalate their privileges and run arbitrary code under root privileges.

Patch / fix

  • x.org x_server 1.20.3
  • xorg-server Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 2:1.20.3-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2018-14665

  • xorg-server Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 2:1.19.6-1ubuntu4.2
  • xorg-server-hwe-16.04 Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 2:1.19.6-1ubuntu4.1~16.04.2

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2018-14665

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • xorg-x11-server RHEL 7 1.20.1-5.1.el7
  • xorg-x11-server-Xdmx RHEL 7 1.20.1-5.1.el7
  • xorg-x11-server-Xorg RHEL 7 1.20.1-5.1.el7
  • xorg-x11-server-Xvfb RHEL 7 1.20.1-5.1.el7
  • xorg-x11-server-Xnest RHEL 7 1.20.1-5.1.el7
  • xorg-x11-server-common RHEL 7 1.20.1-5.1.el7
  • xorg-x11-server-source RHEL 7 1.20.1-5.1.el7
  • xorg-x11-server-Xephyr RHEL 7 1.20.1-5.1.el7

red hat advisories RHSA-2018:3410

  • xorg-x11-server SLE Workstation Extension 15, SLE Module for Development Tools 15, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 1.19.6-8.3.2
  • xorg-x11-server SLES for SAP 11 SP4, SLES 11 SP4, SLES 11 SP3-TERADATA +3 more 7.4-27.122.21.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2018:3680-1SUSE-SU-2018:3456-1

  • xorg-x11-server openSUSE Tumbleweed 1.20.13-1.2

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:11525-1

  • xorg-server Alpine 3.24, Alpine 3.23, Alpine 3.22 +13 more 1.20.3-r0
  • xorg-server Alpine 3.7, Alpine 3.6 1.19.5-r1
  • xorg-server Alpine 3.8 1.19.6-r3

alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2018-14665

Alpine secdb © Alpine Linux, from https://secdb.alpinelinux.org via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • xorg-server Arch Linux 1.20.3-1

arch linux advisories AVG-788

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2018-14665 updated cvss 6.6

xorg-x11-server: Incorrect permission check in Xorg X server allows for privilege escalation

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) xorg-x11-server 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xorg 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-common 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xephyr 1.20.1-5.1.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) xorg-x11-server-Xdmx 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xvfb 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xnest 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-source 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xwayland 1.20.1-5.1.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) xorg-x11-server 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xdmx 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xorg 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xvfb 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xnest 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-common 1.20.1-5.1.el7, +3 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server (v. 7) xorg-x11-server 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xorg 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-common 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xephyr 1.20.1-5.1.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server Optional (v. 7) xorg-x11-server-Xdmx 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xvfb 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xnest 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-source 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xwayland 1.20.1-5.1.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) xorg-x11-server 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xorg 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-common 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xephyr 1.20.1-5.1.el7
    +3 more products
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) xorg-x11-server-Xdmx 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xvfb 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xnest 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-source 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xwayland 1.20.1-5.1.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) xorg-x11-server 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xorg 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-common 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xephyr 1.20.1-5.1.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) xorg-x11-server-Xdmx 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xvfb 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xnest 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-source 1.20.1-5.1.el7, xorg-x11-server-Xwayland 1.20.1-5.1.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:3410
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 xorg-x11-server Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 xorg-x11-server, xorg-x11-server-Xdmx, xorg-x11-server-Xorg, xorg-x11-server-Xvfb, xorg-x11-server-Xnest, xorg-x11-server-common, +2 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 xorg-x11-server, xorg-x11-server-Xdmx, xorg-x11-server-Xorg, xorg-x11-server-Xvfb, xorg-x11-server-Xnest, xorg-x11-server-common, +3 more
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Timeline

  1. First public exploit (Metasploit exploit/aix/local/xorg_x11_server)
  2. Published

Exploit prediction

27.24% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 98% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.0 6.6 CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 7.2 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Classification

Weakness

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.