# CVE-2018-16880: Memory corruption in kernel

> A malicious virtual guest can trigger an out-of-bounds write in the Linux kernel vhost_net driver, causing system panic and potential privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.9 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 29 Jan 2019
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** AZL-6518, DEBIAN-CVE-2018-16880, GHSA-x3fm-32v3-x7hm, UBUNTU-CVE-2018-16880

## What is CVE-2018-16880?

CVE-2018-16880 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 29 Jan 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's handle_rx() function in the [vhost_net] driver. A malicious virtual guest, under specific conditions, can trigger an out-of-bounds write in a kmalloc-8 slab on a virtual host which may lead to a kernel memory corruption and a system panic. Due to the nature of the flaw, privilege escalation cannot be fully ruled out. Versions from v4.16 and newer are vulnerable.

Weakness: CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-16880?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-16880?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2018-16880 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-16880 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

- [CVE-2020-11651](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11651/): SaltStack Salt Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-7247](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7247/): OpenSMTPD Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-16928](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16928/): Exim Out-of-bounds Write (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-6789](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6789/): Exim Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2015-2590](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2590/): Oracle Java SE and Java SE Embedded Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-16880 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-16880 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 29 Jan 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-16880 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Canonical Ubuntu Linux. 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-2018-16880/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-16880/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-16880
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-16880
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-16880

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-16880/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.