CVE-2018-12029
A race condition in the nginx module in Phusion Passenger 3.x through 5.x before 5.3.2 allows local escalation of privileges when a non-standard passenger_instance_registry_dir with insufficiently strict permissions is configured.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.27%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
A race condition in the nginx module in Phusion Passenger 3.x through 5.x before 5.3.2 allows local escalation of privileges when a non-standard passenger_instance_registry_dir with insufficiently strict permissions is configured. Replacing a file with a symlink after the file was created, but before it was chowned, leads to the target of the link being chowned via the path. Targeting sensitive files such as root's crontab file allows privilege escalation.
- CVSS 3.0
- 7.0 HIGHCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 0.27% probability · 20th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-362
- Affected
- phusion/passenger · debian/debian linux
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS 0.3% since 27 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- https://blog.phusion.nl/passenger-5-3-2Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/06/msg00007.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://pulsesecurity.co.nz/advisories/phusion-passenger-priv-escThird Party Advisory
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201807-02Third Party Advisory
- https://blog.phusion.nl/passenger-5-3-2Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/06/msg00007.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://pulsesecurity.co.nz/advisories/phusion-passenger-priv-escThird Party Advisory
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201807-02Third Party Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.