CVE-2018-16866

Exp

An out of bounds read was discovered in systemd-journald in the way it parses log messages that terminate with a colon ':'. A local attacker can use this flaw to disclose process memory data. Versions from v221 to v239 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-2018-16866 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS Low severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.05%). 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-2018-16866

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2018-16866

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 2024-12-17 0.04% 0.05% +0.01%
2 2023-03-07 5.84% 0.04% -5.79%
3 2022-02-04 — 5.84% —

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-16866

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
3.3 3.1 LOW
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.8 1.4 [email protected]
4.3 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:A)
Attacker has to be nearby on the network—same office, same link, that vibe—not the whole wide internet.
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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.8 1.4 [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-2018-16866

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-16866

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2018-16866 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-2018-16866
gentoo normal CVE-2018-16866: 1 GLSA(s) (201903-07), 1 atom(s) (sys-apps/systemd); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2018-16866
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-16866
suse low CVE-2018-16866 severity low: SUSE including 261 source package names (0.1.0:libsystemd0-234-24.20.1, 0.1.0:libudev1-234-24.20.1, …), 1043 product×package rows across 196 product lines (Container caasp/v4/389-ds, Container caasp/v4/busybox, … (196 product lines)): Fixed 920, Known Not Affected 123. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-16866/
ubuntu medium CVE-2018-16866 medium 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-2018-16866

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-16866

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
systemd_project systemd >= 221, <= 239 cpe:2.3:a:systemd_project:systemd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_compute_node_eus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_compute_node_eus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems_\(structure_a\) 7_s390x cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems_\(structure_a\):7_s390x:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems_eus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_ibm_z_systems_eus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_power_big_endian 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_big_endian:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_power_big_endian_eus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_big_endian_eus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian_eus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_power_little_endian_eus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_for_scientific_computing 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_for_scientific_computing:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.4 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_for_power_little_endian_update_services_for_sap_solutions 7.4 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_for_power_little_endian_update_services_for_sap_solutions:7.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_for_power_little_endian_update_services_for_sap_solutions 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_for_power_little_endian_update_services_for_sap_solutions:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_tus 7.4 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:7.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_tus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_tus:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_update_services_for_sap_solutions 7.4 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_update_services_for_sap_solutions:7.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_update_services_for_sap_solutions 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_update_services_for_sap_solutions:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-16866

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.securityfocus.com/bid/106527 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2091 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:3222 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2020:0593 Third Party Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2018-16866 Issue Tracking Patch 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.qualys.com/2019/01/09/system-down/system-down.txt Exploit Third Party Advisory
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