CVE & CISA-KEV Catalog

CVE-2018-6954

HIGH
7.8
CVSS v3
NVD

Description

systemd-tmpfiles in systemd through 237 mishandles symlinks present in non-terminal path components, which allows local users to obtain ownership of arbitrary files via vectors involving creation of a directory and a file under that directory, and later replacing that directory with a symlink. This occurs even if the fs.protected_symlinks sysctl is turned on.

How to fix

Remediation Available
systemdDebian
Fixed in:238-1CVE-2018-6954
Fixed in:238-1CVE-2018-6954
Fixed in:238-1CVE-2018-6954
Fixed in:238-1CVE-2018-6954
systemdUbuntu
Fixed in:229-4ubuntu21.9USN-3816-2
Fixed in:229-4ubuntu21.8USN-3816-1
Fixed in:237-3ubuntu10.9USN-3816-2
Fixed in:237-3ubuntu10.6USN-3816-1

Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.

CVSS v3 Vector

Exploitability

Attack VectorLocal
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredLow
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged

Impact

ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploit Intelligence

0.53%probability of exploitation in 30 days
41stpercentile

Moderate risk: more likely to be exploited than 41% of all known CVEs.

References

Related Vulnerabilities

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CVE-2021-32610High7.173%-Fix
CVE-2020-36193High7.571%KEVFix
CVE-2023-40028Medium4.958%-Fix
CVE-2020-0787High7.843%KEV + Ransom-
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This product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2025-06-09.