CVE-2018-15687 systemd: chown_one() can dereference symlinks

What is CVE-2018-15687?

CVE-2018-15687 is a high-severity vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 26 Oct 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

A race condition in chown_one() of systemd allows an attacker to cause systemd to set arbitrary permissions on arbitrary files. Affected releases are systemd versions up to and including 239.

Weakness: CWE-362

Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-15687?

It affects 2 products.

Products include Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Systemd Project Systemd.

How do I fix CVE-2018-15687?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2018-15687 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2018-15687 exists.

Public exploit code: 1 Exploit-DB entry.

Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

• CVE-2020-11651 SaltStack Salt Authentication Bypass Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2020-7247 OpenSMTPD Remote Code Execution Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2019-16928 Exim Out-of-bounds Write Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2018-6789 Exim Buffer Overflow Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2015-2590 Oracle Java SE and Java SE Embedded Remote Code Execution Exploited Critical 9.8

All Canonical Ubuntu Linux vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2018-15687, GHSA-wxcv-623q-99fj, UBUNTU-CVE-2018-15687.