CVE-2018-12232
In net/socket.c in the Linux kernel through 4.17.1, there is a race condition between fchownat and close in cases where they target the same socket file descriptor, related to the sock_close and sockfs_setattr functions. fchownat does not increment the…
Does this matter?
Lower severity and a low EPSS score (6.30%). Track it; it rarely justifies an emergency change on its own.
Description
In net/socket.c in the Linux kernel through 4.17.1, there is a race condition between fchownat and close in cases where they target the same socket file descriptor, related to the sock_close and sockfs_setattr functions. fchownat does not increment the file descriptor reference count, which allows close to set the socket to NULL during fchownat's execution, leading to a NULL pointer dereference and system crash.
- CVSS 3.0
- 5.9 MEDIUMCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- EPSS
- 6.30% probability · 94th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-362
- Affected
- linux/linux kernel
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS 6.3% since 27 October 2026; no change recorded yet. The dashed line is the ten per cent mark our analysts treat as “patch before the next change window”. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=6d8c50dcb029872b298eea68cc6209c866fd3e14Patch, Third Party Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/104453Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:2948
- https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/6d8c50dcb029872b298eea68cc6209c866fd3e14Patch, Third Party Advisory
- https://lkml.org/lkml/2018/6/5/14Third Party Advisory
- https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/patch/926519/Patch, Third Party Advisory
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-1/
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-2/
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-3/
- http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=6d8c50dcb029872b298eea68cc6209c866fd3e14Patch, Third Party Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/104453Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:2948
- https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/6d8c50dcb029872b298eea68cc6209c866fd3e14Patch, Third Party Advisory
- https://lkml.org/lkml/2018/6/5/14Third Party Advisory
- https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/patch/926519/Patch, Third Party Advisory
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-1/
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-2/
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-3/
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.