CVE-2018-1120

Exp

A flaw was found affecting the Linux kernel before version 4.17. By mmap()ing a FUSE-backed file onto a process's memory containing command line arguments (or environment strings), an attacker can cause utilities from psutils or procps (such as ps, w) or any other program which makes a read() call to the /proc/<pid>/cmdline (or /proc/<pid>/environ) files to block indefinitely (denial of service) or for some controlled time (as a synchronization primitive for other attacks).

Published: 2018-06-20 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-1120 is rated High Exploit Risk (63.9/100): CVSS Low severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 7.29%, 94th percentile). 3 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +5.85% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. 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-2018-1120

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
44806 exploit_db edb 2018-05-30 Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2018-1120

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 2026-06-15 1.44% 7.29% +5.85%
2 2026-04-18 1.33% 1.44% +0.10%
3 2026-03-30 — 1.33% —

Full EPSS history (14 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-1120

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
2.8 3.0 LOW
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L 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:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 1.3 1.4 [email protected]
5.3 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.6 3.6 [email protected]
3.5 2.0 LOW
AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 6.8 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-1120

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-1120

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2018-1120 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-2018-1120
gentoo normal CVE-2018-1120: 1 GLSA(s) (201805-14), 1 atom(s) (sys-process/procps); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2018-1120
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-1120
suse medium CVE-2018-1120 severity moderate: SUSE including 163 source package names (bpftool-3.10.0-957.el7, cluster-md-kmp-default-4.12.14-120.1, …), 399 product×package rows across 88 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 3.0, SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, … (88 product lines)): Fixed 251, Known Not Affected 148. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-1120/
ubuntu medium CVE-2018-1120 medium priority: Ubuntu including 97 source packages (linux, linux-aws, …), 903 status rows across 13 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 599, not-affected 167, released 117, ignored 20. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-1120

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-1120

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel < 4.17 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat virtualization_host 4.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:virtualization_host:4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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_workstation 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 16.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 18.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-1120

URL Tags
http://seclists.org/oss-sec/2018/q2/122 Exploit Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/104229 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://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2018-1120 Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=7f7ccc2ccc2e70c6054685f5e3522efa81556830 Patch Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/07/msg00020.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201805-14 Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-2/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-3/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3910-1/
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3910-2/
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/44806/ Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
cvelogic Threat Intelligence