CVE-2018-15687
A race condition in chown_one() of systemd allows an attacker to cause systemd to set arbitrary permissions on arbitrary files.
Does this matter?
A public exploit is published in Exploit-DB (verified) and the impact is high, while EPSS rates exploitation at 1.1%. Anyone can run this; patch or mitigate before the next change window and check exposed instances for signs of use.
Description
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.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.0 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 1.06% probability · 64th percentile
- Public exploits
- 1 in Exploit-DB · verified · first 29 October 2018
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-362
- Affected
- canonical/ubuntu linux · systemd project/systemd
- Source
- security@ubuntu.com
EPSS 1.1% 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.
Public exploits (1)
Entries in Exploit-DB that cite this CVE. Links go to the Exploit-DB page and to the file in the public repository; nothing is hosted here. A verified tick means the Exploit-DB team confirmed the exploit works against the stated version.
References
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/105748Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/10517/commitsPatch, Third Party Advisory
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201810-10Third Party Advisory
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3816-1/Third Party Advisory
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/45715/Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/105748Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/10517/commitsPatch, Third Party Advisory
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201810-10Third Party Advisory
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3816-1/Third Party Advisory
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/45715/Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.