CVE-2018-16597

An issue was discovered in the Linux kernel before 4.8. Incorrect access checking in overlayfs mounts could be used by local attackers to modify or truncate files in the underlying filesystem.

Published: 2018-09-21 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-16597 is rated Low Risk (30.5/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.10%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2018-16597

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 2025-03-30 0.34% 0.10% -0.24%
2 2025-03-29 0.10% 0.34% +0.24%
3 2025-03-17 — 0.10% —

Full EPSS history (6 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-16597

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:N/I:H/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.8 3.6 [email protected]
4.9 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:C/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:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 3.9 6.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-16597

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-16597

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2018-16597 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-2018-16597
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-16597
suse medium CVE-2018-16597 severity moderate: SUSE including 54 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default-4.4.156-94.57.1, cluster-md-kmp-rt-4.4.162-3.26.1, …), 274 product×package rows across 58 product lines (SLES for SAP Applications 11 SP3, SUSE CaaS Platform 3.0, … (58 product lines)): Known Not Affected 212, Fixed 62. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-16597/
ubuntu medium CVE-2018-16597 medium priority: Ubuntu including 24 source packages (linux, linux-aws, …), 120 status rows across 5 suites (bionic, cosmic, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 62, not-affected 33, released 24, ignored 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-16597

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-16597

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel < 4.8 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp active_iq_performance_analytics_services — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:active_iq_performance_analytics_services:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp element_software — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:element_software:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse leap 42.3 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:42.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-16597

cvelogic Threat Intelligence