CVE-2017-18344

Exp

The timer_create syscall implementation in kernel/time/posix-timers.c in the Linux kernel before 4.14.8 doesn't properly validate the sigevent->sigev_notify field, which leads to out-of-bounds access in the show_timer function (called when /proc/$PID/timers is read). This allows userspace applications to read arbitrary kernel memory (on a kernel built with CONFIG_POSIX_TIMERS and CONFIG_CHECKPOINT_RESTORE).

Published: 2018-07-26 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2017-18344 is rated High Exploit Risk (67.3/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 3.23%). 2 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2017-18344

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
45175 exploit_db edb 2018-08-09 Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2017-18344

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-24 3.26% 3.23% -0.03%
2 2026-06-15 11.61% 3.26% -8.35%
3 2026-06-10 — 11.61% —

Full EPSS history (31 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2017-18344

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.8 3.6 [email protected]
2.1 2.0 LOW
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 3.9 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2017-18344

OS Trackers for CVE-2017-18344

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2017-18344 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2017-18344
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-18344
suse medium CVE-2017-18344 severity moderate: SUSE including 551 source package names (bpftool-3.10.0-957.el7, cluster-md-kmp-azure-4.12.14-5.8.1, …), 1172 product×package rows across 130 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, SLES for SAP Applications 11 SP3, … (130 product lines)): Known Not Affected 810, Fixed 362. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-18344/
ubuntu high CVE-2017-18344 high priority: Ubuntu including 77 source packages (linux, linux-aws, …), 620 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, cosmic, disco, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 392, not-affected 127, released 91, ignored 10. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2017-18344

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2017-18344

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel < 4.14.8 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 12.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 14.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
redhat mrg_realtime 2.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:mrg_realtime:2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.2 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.3 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.4 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_eus 7.3 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_eus 7.5 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_tus 7.2 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:7.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_tus 7.3 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:7.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_tus 7.4 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:7.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2017-18344

URL Tags
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/104909 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1041414 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:2948 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3083 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3096 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3459 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3540 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3586 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3590 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3591 Third Party Advisory
https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/ChangeLog-4.14.8 Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/cef31d9af908243421258f1df35a4a644604efbe Patch Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3742-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3742-2/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/45175/ Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
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