Description
wget 1.8.x and 1.9.x does not filter or quote control characters when displaying HTTP responses to the terminal, which may allow remote malicious web servers to inject terminal escape sequences and execute arbitrary code.
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | wget | 1.9.1-11 | — |
| Debian 13 | wget | 1.9.1-11 | — |
| Debian 12 | wget | 1.9.1-11 | — |
Red Hat
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL 4 | wget | 1.10.1-2.4E.1 | RHSA-2005:771 |
| RHEL 3 | wget | 1.10.1-1.30E.1 | RHSA-2005:771 |
Public exploits
Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.
Third-party code, not reviewed by us. Public PoCs are sometimes fake or contain malware. Read the code first and run it only in an isolated lab, against systems you are authorised to test.
Exploit-DB 1
- GNU Wget 1.x - Multiple Vulnerabilities EDB-24813 · remote · Dec 10, 2004 · verified
Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.
Advisories 1
- RHSA-2005:771 Red Hat Security Advisory: wget security update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jun 26, 2026
References
- RHSA-2005:771 vendor-advisory
- 11871 vdb-entry
- 20041209 wget: Arbitrary file overwriting/appending/creating and other vulnerabilities mailing-list
- USN-145-1 vendor-advisory
- SUSE-SR:2006:016 vendor-advisory
- wget-terminal-overwrite(18421) vdb-entry
- http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=261755
- oval:org.mitre.oval:def:9750 vdb-entry signature
- 20960 third-party-advisory
- 1012472 vdb-entry