Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2018-16862

A security flaw was found in the Linux kernel in a way that the cleancache subsystem clears an inode after the final file truncation (removal). The new file created with the same inode may contain leftover pages from cleancache and the old file data instead of the new one.

Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.3, requiring local system access to exploit but requires specific conditions to be met though user interaction is required and does not require pre-existing privileges . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), limited integrity, for affected systems. Impacting 4 products from linux, from redhat, from canonical and 1 other, 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

2018-11-26T19:29:00.327

Last Modified

2024-11-21T03:53:28.293

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.0: 5.3 (MEDIUM)

CVSSv2 Vector

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

Access Vector: LOCAL
Access Complexity: LOW
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: PARTIAL
Integrity Impact: NONE
Availability Impact: NONE

Exploitability Score

3.9

Impact Score

2.9

Weaknesses

Type: Secondary
CWE-200
Type: Primary
CWE-200

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Operating System	linux	linux_kernel	≤ 4.14	Yes
Operating System	redhat	enterprise_linux	7.0	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	14.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	16.04	Yes
Operating System	debian	debian_linux	8.0	Yes

References

http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/106009 Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2018-16862 Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/03/msg00017.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/03/msg00034.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/04/msg00004.html ([email protected])
https://lore.kernel.org/patchwork/patch/1011367/ Issue Tracking, Patch, Vendor Advisory ([email protected])
https://seclists.org/oss-sec/2018/q4/169 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3879-1/ Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3879-2/ Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4094-1/ ([email protected])
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4118-1/ ([email protected])
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/106009 Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2018-16862 Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/03/msg00017.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/03/msg00034.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/04/msg00004.html (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://lore.kernel.org/patchwork/patch/1011367/ Issue Tracking, Patch, Vendor Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://seclists.org/oss-sec/2018/q4/169 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3879-1/ Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3879-2/ Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4094-1/ (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4118-1/ (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 linux'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.