# CVE-2018-12232: Race condition in n/a

> A race condition in the Linux kernel allows local attackers to cause a system crash via NULL pointer dereference during socket operations.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.9 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 12 Jun 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2018-12232, GHSA-wg55-v4qx-w8g3, UBUNTU-CVE-2018-12232

## What is CVE-2018-12232?

CVE-2018-12232 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 12 Jun 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In net/socket.c in the Linux kernel through 4.17.1, there is a race condition between fchownat and close in cases where they target the same socket file descriptor, related to the sock_close and sockfs_setattr functions. fchownat does not increment the file descriptor reference count, which allows close to set the socket to NULL during fchownat's execution, leading to a NULL pointer dereference and system crash.

Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-12232?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-12232?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2018-12232 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-12232 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-12232 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-12232 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 12 Jun 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-12232 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-12232/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-12232/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-12232
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-12232
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-12232

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-12232/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.