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Fencer Intel
medium 5.3

CVE-2018-16862 json

A security flaw was found in the Linux kernel in a way that the cleancache subsystem clears an inode after the final file truncation (remov…

published 7y ago modified 4mo ago also EUVD-2018-8653

cvss
5.3
version 3.0, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.5%
EPSS 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 45%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

A security flaw was found in the Linux kernel in a way that the cleancache subsystem clears an inode after the final file truncation (removal). The new file created with the same inode may contain leftover pages from cleancache and the old file data instead of the new one.

Patch / fix

  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 4.19.9-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2018-16862

  • linux Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-142.168
  • linux Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-58.64
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 4.4.0-1038.41
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1075.85
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-1047.49
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.15.0-1040.42~16.04.1
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-1040.42
  • linux-hwe Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.15.0-58.64~16.04.1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2018-16862

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel-syms SLES for SAP 12 SP3, SLES 12 SP3, SLED 12 SP3 4.4.175-94.79.1
  • kernel-source SLES for SAP 12 SP3, SLES 12 SP3, SLED 12 SP3 4.4.175-94.79.1
  • kernel-default SLES for SAP 12 SP3, SLES 12 SP3, SLED 12 SP3 +2 more 4.4.175-94.79.1
  • kernel-obs-build SLE Software Development Kit 12 SP3 4.4.175-94.79.1
  • kernel-syms SLES for SAP 12 SP2, SLES 12 SP2-LTSS, SLES 12 SP2-BCL +2 more 4.4.121-92.101.1
  • kernel-source SLES for SAP 12 SP2, SLES 12 SP2-LTSS, SLES 12 SP2-BCL +2 more 4.4.121-92.101.1
  • kernel-default SLES for SAP 12 SP2, SLES 12 SP2-LTSS, SLES 12 SP2-BCL +3 more 4.4.121-92.101.1
  • kgraft-patch-SLE12-SP2_Update_27 SLES for SAP 12 SP2, SLES 12 SP2-LTSS, OpenStack Cloud 7 +1 more 1-3.3.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2019:0541-1SUSE-SU-2019:0439-1SUSE-SU-2019:0320-1SUSE-SU-2019:0224-1SUSE-SU-2019:0222-1SUSE-SU-2019:0196-1

  • kernel-source openSUSE Leap 15.0 4.12.14-lp150.12.45.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2019:0065-1

Is CVE-2018-16862 in your stack? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

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Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2018-16862 updated cvss 5.3

kernel: cleancache: Infoleak of deleted files after reuse of old inodes

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, kernel-alt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-tools, +3 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-rt-kvm, kernel-rt-trace, kernel-rt-debug-kvm, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2 kernel-rt, mrg-rt-release, kernel-rt-trace, kernel-rt-vanilla, kernel-rt-firmware
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

0.53% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 45% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.0 5.3 CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N
NVD 3.0 5.5 CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
NVD 2.0 2.1 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

Affected products

  • [UNKNOWN] kernel:

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-200 Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.