CVE-2018-15686

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

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

systemd

CVSS v3.1 NVD

7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS v3.0 UBUNTU

7.0 HIGHCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS v2.0 NVD

7.2 HIGHAV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

EPSS

2.26% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, 83rd percentile

Published

2018-10-26

Updated

2025-06-09

ExploitDB entries (1)

• https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/45714

Security advisories

• http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/105747
• https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2091
• https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:3222
• https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2020:0593
• systemd/systemd/pull/10519
• https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/11/msg00017.html
• https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201810-10
• https://usn.ubuntu.com/3816-1
• https://www.oracle.com//security-alerts/cpujul2021.html

References

• CVE Record
• NVD entry