CVE-2018-16871

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's NFS implementation, all versions 3.x and all versions 4.x up to 4.20. An attacker, who is able to mount an exported NFS filesystem, is able to trigger a null pointer dereference by using an invalid NFS sequence. This can panic the machine and deny access to the NFS server. Any outstanding disk writes to the NFS server will be lost.

Published: 2019-07-30 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2018-16871 is rated Moderate Risk (60.8/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.78%). Core evidence: EPSS rose +1.25% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

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-2018-16871

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 1.52% 2.78% +1.25%
2 2025-09-07 0.94% 1.52% +0.58%
3 2025-09-02 0.94%

Full EPSS history (18 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-16871

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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: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: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.
3.9 3.6 [email protected]
7.5 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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: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: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.
3.9 3.6 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
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:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-16871

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-16871

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2018-16871 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-2018-16871
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-16871
suse medium CVE-2018-16871 severity moderate: SUSE including 235 source package names (bpftool-3.10.0-957.27.2.el7, bpftool-4.18.0-193.el8, …), 565 product×package rows across 78 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, SLES for SAP Applications 11 SP3, … (78 product lines)): Fixed 382, Known Not Affected 183. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-16871/
ubuntu medium CVE-2018-16871 medium priority: Ubuntu including 74 source packages (linux, linux-aws, …), 565 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, jammy, noble, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 340, not-affected 114, released 100, ignored 11. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-16871

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-16871

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 3.0, <= 4.20 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat developer_tools 1.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:developer_tools:1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat mrg_realtime 2.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:mrg_realtime:2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_eus 7.4 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_eus:7.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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_eus 7.6 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus: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_workstation 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp cloud_backup cpe:2.3:a:netapp:cloud_backup:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h410c_firmware cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h410c_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h300s_firmware cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h300s_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h500s_firmware cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h500s_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h700s_firmware cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h700s_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h300e_firmware cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h300e_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h500e_firmware cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h500e_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h700e_firmware cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h700e_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp h410s_firmware cpe:2.3:o:netapp:h410s_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-16871

cvelogic Threat Intelligence