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CVE-2018-15687

A race condition in chown_one() of systemd allows an attacker to cause systemd to set arbitrary permissions on arbitrary files. Affected releases are systemd versions up to and including 239.

Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a HIGH severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.0, requiring local system access to exploit but requires specific conditions to be met without requiring user interaction requiring only low-level privileges . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), integrity (unauthorized modifications), and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 2 products from canonical, from systemd_project organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

First disclosed in 2018, this vulnerability was reported during a period defined by widespread IoT adoption challenges, mobile security concerns, and the emergence of advanced persistent threat (APT) techniques. Contemporary mitigation strategies focused on secure development practices and third-party component vetting.

Published

2018-10-26T14:29:00.757

Last Modified

2025-06-09T16:15:28.517

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 7.0 (HIGH)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Access Vector: LOCAL
Access Complexity: MEDIUM
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: COMPLETE
Integrity Impact: COMPLETE
Availability Impact: COMPLETE

Exploitability Score

3.4

Impact Score

10.0

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-362
Type: Secondary
CWE-362

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	16.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	18.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	18.10	Yes
Application	systemd_project	systemd	< 240	Yes

References

http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/105748 Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/10517/commits Patch, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201810-10 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3816-1/ Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/45715/ Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/105748 Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/10517/commits Patch, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201810-10 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3816-1/ Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/45715/ Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For canonical's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.