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Fencer Vulns
low 3.3

CVE-2020-16121 json

PackageKit error messages leak presence and mimetype of files to unprivileged users

published 2020-11-07 6 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2020-8087

cvss
3.3
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.5%
EPSS 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 40%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

PackageKit provided detailed error messages to unprivileged callers that exposed information about file presence and mimetype of files that the user would be unable to determine on its own.

Patch / fix

  • PackageKit PackageKit 0.8.17-4ubuntu6~gcc5.4ubuntu1.5, 1.1.9-1ubuntu2.18.04.6, 1.1.13-2ubuntu1.1
  • packagekit Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 1.2.1-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2020-16121

  • packagekit Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 0.8.17-4ubuntu6~gcc5.4ubuntu1.5
  • packagekit Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 1.1.9-1ubuntu2.18.04.6
  • packagekit Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 1.1.13-2ubuntu1.1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2020-16121

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

  • PackageKit SLE Workstation Extension 15 SP2, SLE Module for Desktop Applications 15 SP2 1.1.13-4.14.2
  • PackageKit SLES for SAP 12 SP5, SLES 12 SP5, SLE Workstation Extension 12 SP5 +1 more 1.1.3-24.15.1
  • PackageKit SLE Workstation Extension 15 SP1, SLE Module for Desktop Applications 15 SP1 1.1.10-12.10.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2020:3911-1SUSE-SU-2020:3909-1SUSE-SU-2020:3845-1

  • PackageKit openSUSE Tumbleweed 1.2.2-13.2
  • PackageKit openSUSE Leap 15.2 1.1.13-lp152.3.15.1
  • PackageKit openSUSE Leap 15.1 1.1.10-lp151.8.12.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:10605-1openSUSE-SU-2020:2344-1openSUSE-SU-2020:2292-1

  • packagekit Arch Linux 1.2.3-1

arch linux advisories AVG-1260

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-2020-16121 updated cvss 2.5

PackageKit: local attacker could use this issue to learn the MIME type of any file on the system

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 PackageKit, PackageKit-qt, PackageKit-yum, PackageKit-cron, PackageKit-glib, PackageKit-gtk-module, +6 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 PackageKit, PackageKit-yum, PackageKit-cron, PackageKit-glib, PackageKit-yum-plugin, PackageKit-gtk3-module, +2 more
    affected: no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 PackageKit, PackageKit-cron, PackageKit-glib, PackageKit-gtk3-module, PackageKit-gstreamer-plugin, PackageKit-command-not-found
    affected: no fix available “Fix deferred”

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

Exploit prediction

0.47% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 40% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • eyecontrol.nl https://www.eyecontrol.nl/blog/the-story-of-3-cves-in-ubuntu-desktop.html referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 3.3 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
NVD 3.1 3.3 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
NVD 2.0 2.1 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

Affected products

  • PackageKit PackageKit

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-209 Generation of Error Message Containing Sensitive Information

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.