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High · 7.8 Public exploit CVE-2018-20225 EUVD-2018-12792GHSA-7p5p-7qq5-cc86

An issue was discovered in pip (all versions) because it installs the version with the highest version number, even if the user had intende…

Published May 8, 2020 · Updated Apr 15, 2026 · Assigned by mitre

Package: python-pip Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

An issue was discovered in pip (all versions) because it installs the version with the highest version number, even if the user had intended to obtain a private package from a private index. This only affects use of the --extra-index-url option, and exploitation requires that the package does not already exist in the public index (and thus the attacker can put the package there with an arbitrary version number). NOTE: it has been reported that this is intended functionality and the user is responsible for using --extra-index-url securely

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.

Ubuntu

Security tracker ↗
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS python-pip No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS python-pip No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS python-pip No fix yet —
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS python-pip No fix yet —

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.

GitHub 1 repository

Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.

Advisories 1

References