CVE-2018-16865

Exp

An allocation of memory without limits, that could result in the stack clashing with another memory region, was discovered in systemd-journald when many entries are sent to the journal socket. A local attacker, or a remote one if systemd-journal-remote is used, may use this flaw to crash systemd-journald or execute code with journald privileges. Versions through v240 are vulnerable.

Published: 2019-01-11 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-16865 is rated High Exploit Risk (73.8/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.22%). 1 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-2018-16865

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2018-16865

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 2026-04-01 1.26% 1.22% -0.03%
2 2026-03-21 1.24% 1.26% +0.01%
3 2025-11-21 — 1.24% —

Full EPSS history (14 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-16865

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 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:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
7.5 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.6 5.9 [email protected]
4.6 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P 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:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 3.9 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-16865

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-16865

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2018-16865 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (systemd), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-16865
gentoo normal CVE-2018-16865: 1 GLSA(s) (201903-07), 1 atom(s) (sys-apps/systemd); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2018-16865
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-16865
suse high CVE-2018-16865 severity important: SUSE including 688 source package names (0.1.0:libsystemd0-234-24.20.1, 0.1.0:libudev1-234-24.20.1, …), 1417 product×package rows across 216 product lines (Container caasp/v4/389-ds, Container caasp/v4/busybox, … (216 product lines)): Fixed 1260, Known Affected 157. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-16865/
ubuntu high CVE-2018-16865 high priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (systemd), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bionic, cosmic, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 3, needs-triage 1, not-affected 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-16865

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-16865

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
systemd_project systemd <= 240 cpe:2.3:a:systemd_project:systemd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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 7.3 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_eus 7.5 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_eus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_tus 7.3 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:7.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_tus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 18.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_session_border_controller 8.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_session_border_controller:8.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_session_border_controller 8.1.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_session_border_controller:8.1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle communications_session_border_controller 8.2.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:communications_session_border_controller:8.2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle enterprise_communications_broker 3.0.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:enterprise_communications_broker:3.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle enterprise_communications_broker 3.1.0 cpe:2.3:a:oracle:enterprise_communications_broker:3.1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-16865

URL Tags
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/152841/System-Down-A-systemd-journald-Exploit.html Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2019/May/21 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/05/10/4 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/07/20/2 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/106525 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2019:0327 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:0049 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:0204 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:0271 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:0342 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:0361 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2402 Third Party Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2018-16865 Issue Tracking Patch
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/01/msg00016.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/May/25 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201903-07 Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190117-0001/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3855-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2019/dsa-4367 Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuapr2019-5072813.html Patch Third Party Advisory
https://www.qualys.com/2019/01/09/system-down/system-down.txt Exploit Third Party Advisory
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