Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2018-19788

A flaw was found in PolicyKit (aka polkit) 0.115 that allows a user with a uid greater than INT_MAX to successfully execute any systemctl command.

Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a HIGH severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 8.8, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network with relatively low complexity 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 3 products from polkit_project, from debian, from canonical 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

2018-12-03T06:29:00.243

Last Modified

2024-11-21T03:58:33.460

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.0: 8.8 (HIGH)

CVSSv2 Vector

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

Access Vector: NETWORK
Access Complexity: LOW
Authentication: SINGLE
Confidentiality Impact: COMPLETE
Integrity Impact: COMPLETE
Availability Impact: COMPLETE

Exploitability Score

8.0

Impact Score

10.0

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-20

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Application	polkit_project	polkit	0.115	Yes
Operating System	debian	debian_linux	8.0	Yes
Operating System	debian	debian_linux	9.0	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	12.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	14.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	16.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	18.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	18.10	Yes

References

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2046 ([email protected])
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:3232 ([email protected])
https://bugs.debian.org/915332 Issue Tracking, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/polkit/polkit/issues/74 Exploit, Patch, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/01/msg00021.html Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201908-14 ([email protected])
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3861-1/ Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3861-2/ Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://www.debian.org/security/2018/dsa-4350 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2046 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:3232 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://bugs.debian.org/915332 Issue Tracking, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/polkit/polkit/issues/74 Exploit, Patch, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/01/msg00021.html Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201908-14 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240816-0001/ (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3861-1/ Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3861-2/ Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://www.debian.org/security/2018/dsa-4350 Third Party Advisory (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 polkit_project'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.