CVE-2018-15686

systemd: reexec state injection: fgets() on overlong lines leads to line splitting

HIGH
7.8
CVSS Score
Published: October 26, 2018 at 02:00 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 01:42 AM UTC
5 products affected across 5 vendorsDebian LinuxUbuntu LinuxSystemd

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Severity
HIGH7.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

A vulnerability in unit_deserialize of systemd allows an attacker to supply arbitrary state across systemd re-execution via NotifyAccess. This can be used to improperly influence systemd execution and possibly lead to root privilege escalation. Affected releases are systemd versions up to and including 239.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

References (11)

VDB Entryx_refsource_BIDThird Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/105747
Vendor Advisoryx_refsource_REDHATThird Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2091
Vendor Advisoryx_refsource_REDHATThird Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:3222
Vendor Advisoryx_refsource_REDHATThird Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2020:0593
x_refsource_MISCPatchThird Party Advisory
https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/10519
Mailing Listx_refsource_MLISTThird Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/11/msg00017.html
Vendor Advisoryx_refsource_GENTOOThird Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201810-10

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-502

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