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CVE-2018-15687

33
FAUCET Score

CVE-2018-15687 is a race condition vulnerability in the chown_one() function of systemd, affecting versions up to and including 239, which allows an authenticated local attacker to set arbitrary permissions on arbitrary files. This vulnerability carries a CVSS score of 7.0 (HIGH) due to its high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, though it requires high attack complexity. While there is no evidence of active exploitation, an ExploitDB entry (EDB-45715) exists, and there is minimal community discussion or media coverage.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
16.04CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
18.04CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
18.10CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
>= 235, < 240CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:systemd_project:systemd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.0

7.8HIGH

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

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
HIGH
Integrity Impact
HIGH
Availability Impact
HIGH
Exploitability Score
1.8
Impact Score
5.9
CvssVersion
3.0

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
1.06%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
61.0%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-27
Model: v2026.06.15
ExploitDB: EDB-45715 · Oct 29, 2018
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.0106 is in the 91st percentile among its peer group of 1,516 CVEs.

Social Chatter

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.1 Reddit, 0.1 Bluesky, 0.1 Mastodon, and 0.2 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

No media coverage found for this CVE.

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.4 InfoSec Media, 0.1 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Patch Available

Vendor Patches (5)

github_advisorypatch availablevia nvd_reference
View patch
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: 16951-16820Fixed in: -
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: cm1 systemd 239-31 on CBL Mariner 1.0Fixed in: -
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: CBL Mariner 1.0 x64Fixed in: 239-31
microsoftpatch availablevia msrc
Product: CBL Mariner 1.0 ARMFixed in: 239-31

Vendor Advisories (3)

microsoft2020-Aug/CVE-2018-15687

CVE-2018-15687

Aug 11, 2020
redhatCVE-2018-15687Moderate

systemd: Dereference of symlinks in chown_recursive.c:chown_one() allows for modification of file privileges

Oct 26, 2018
microsoft2018-Oct/CVE-2018-15687Important

systemd: chown_one() can dereference symlinks

Oct 9, 2018

References

github.com / systemd/systemd/pull/10517/commits
PatchThird Party Advisory
security.gentoo.org / glsa/201810-10
Third Party Advisory
usn.ubuntu.com / 3816-1
Third Party Advisory
exploit-db.com / exploits/45715
ExploitThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
securityfocus.com / bid/105748
Broken LinkThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry