CVE-2019-18988

MITRE NVD CVE.ORG Print: PDF PDF

Summary

CVECVE-2019-18988
StatePUBLIC
Assigner[email protected]
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2020-02-07 16:15:00 UTC
Updated2020-08-24 17:37:00 UTC
DescriptionTeamViewer Desktop through 14.7.1965 allows a bypass of remote-login access control because the same key is used for different customers' installations. It used a shared AES key for all installations since at least as far back as v7.0.43148, and used it for at least OptionsPasswordAES in the current version of the product. If an attacker were to know this key, they could decrypt protect information stored in the registry or configuration files of TeamViewer. With versions before v9.x , this allowed for attackers to decrypt the Unattended Access password to the system (which allows for remote login to the system as well as headless file browsing). The latest version still uses the same key for OptionPasswordAES but appears to have changed how the Unattended Access password is stored. While in most cases an attacker requires an existing session on a system, if the registry/configuration keys were stored off of the machine (such as in a file share or online), an attacker could then decrypt the required password to login to the system.

Risk And Classification

EPSS: 0.088020000 probability, percentile 0.924910000 (date 2026-04-02)

CISA KEV: Listed on 2021-11-03; due 2022-05-03; ransomware use Unknown

Problem Types: CWE-521

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerability

VendorTeamViewer
ProductDesktop
NameTeamViewer Desktop Bypass Remote Login Vulnerability
Required ActionApply updates per vendor instructions.
Noteshttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-18988

NVD Known Affected Configurations (CPE 2.3)

TypeVendorProductVersionUpdateEditionLanguage
Application Teamviewer Teamviewer All All All All

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
Nic Losby na Twitterze: "https://t.co/avUoHNCJ4G Teamviewer has been storing user passwords encrypted with AES, not hashed, in the registry accessible to low privilege users on the machine. This works for versions dating back from at least as far back as 2012 to the latest version." MISC twitter.com Third Party Advisory
Specification on CVE-2019-18988 - TeamViewer Community - 82264 MISC community.teamviewer.com Vendor Advisory
Knowledge Base - Become a TeamViewer Expert MISC community.teamviewer.com Vendor Advisory
WhyNotSecurity - WhyNotSecurity MISC whynotsecurity.com Exploit, Third Party Advisory
CVE Program record CVE.ORG www.cve.org canonical
NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis
CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog CISA www.cisa.gov kev

Legacy QID Mappings

  • 590595 VISAM VBASE Editor Multiple Vulnerabilities (ICSA-21-308-01)
© CVE.report 2026 |

Use of this information constitutes acceptance for use in an AS IS condition. There are NO warranties, implied or otherwise, with regard to this information or its use. Any use of this information is at the user's risk. It is the responsibility of user to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content. EACH USER WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY consequences of his or her direct or indirect use of this web site. ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND ARE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. This site will NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT or any other kind of loss.

CVE, CWE, and OVAL are registred trademarks of The MITRE Corporation and the authoritative source of CVE content is MITRE's CVE web site. This site includes MITRE data granted under the following license.

CVE.report and Source URL Uptime Status status.cve.report