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No exploitation reportedFix available

CVE-2018-16873

No exploitation reported by the sources we read.

  • Published2018-12-14
  • WeaknessCWE-20

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

In Go before 1.10.6 and 1.11.x before 1.11.3, the "go get" command is vulnerable to remote code execution when executed with the -u flag and the import path of a malicious Go package, or a package that imports it directly or indirectly. Specifically, it is only vulnerable in GOPATH mode, but not in module mode (the distinction is documented at https://golang.org/cmd/go/#hdr-Module_aware_go_get). Using custom domains, it's possible to arrange things so that a Git repository is cloned to a folder named ".git" by using a vanity import path that ends with "/.git". If the Git repository root contains a "HEAD" file, a "config" file, an "objects" directory, a "refs" directory, with some work to ensure the proper ordering of operations, "go get -u" can be tricked into considering the parent directory as a repository root, and running Git commands on it. That will use the "config" file in the original Git repository root for its configuration, and if that config file contains malicious commands, they will execute on the system running "go get -u".

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2018-12-1414:29CVE publishedNVD
  2. 2026-10-2319:23EPSS crossed 10 %FIRST EPSS

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-10-23 18:48 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2018-16873?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2018-16873?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD
Opensuse leap
BranchAffectedFixed in
15.0= 15.0no fix published
15.1= 15.1no fix published
42.3= 42.3no fix published
Go
BranchAffectedFixed in
1.11≥ 1.11.0, < 1.11.31.11.3
1.10< 1.10.61.10.6
Debian debian linux
BranchAffectedFixed in
9.0= 9.0no fix published

2 more products in the sources.

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Fix

Advisories and patches

Detection

Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
none listed
PoC-in-GitHub

Sources

  • NVDCVSS 3.18.1read 2026-10-23
  • CNACVSS 3.07.5read 2026-10-23
  • NVDCVSS 2.06.8read 2026-10-23
  • CNAweakness (CWE)CWE-20read 2026-10-23
  • NVDweakness (CWE)CWE-20read 2026-10-23
  • FIRST EPSSEPSS score66.3 %read 2026-10-23

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2018-12-14
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Modified

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-16873?

In Go before 1.10.6 and 1.11.x before 1.11.3, the "go get" command is vulnerable to remote code execution when executed with the -u flag and the import path of a malicious Go package, or a package that imports it directly or indirectly. Specifically, it is only vulnerable in GOPATH mode, but not in module mode (the distinction is documented at https://golang.org/cmd/go/#hdr-Module_aware_go_get). Using custom domains, it's possible to arrange things so that a Git repository is cloned to a folder named ".git" by using a vanity import path that ends with "/.git". If the Git repository root contains a "HEAD" file, a "config" file, an "objects" directory, a "refs" directory, with some work to ensure the proper ordering of operations, "go get -u" can be tricked into considering the parent directory as a repository root, and running Git commands on it. That will use the "config" file in the original Git repository root for its configuration, and if that config file contains malicious commands, they will execute on the system running "go get -u".

Is CVE-2018-16873 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2018-16873 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 66.3% on 2026-10-22, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2018-16873?

CVE-2018-16873 has a CVSS v3 base score of 8.1 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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