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Fencer Intel
medium 5.5

CVE-2018-18690 json

In the Linux kernel before 4.17, a local attacker able to set attributes on an xfs filesystem could make this filesystem non-operational un…

published 2018-10-26 8 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2018-10406

cvss
5.5
version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.7%
EPSS 0.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 52%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

In the Linux kernel before 4.17, a local attacker able to set attributes on an xfs filesystem could make this filesystem non-operational until the next mount by triggering an unchecked error condition during an xfs attribute change, because xfs_attr_shortform_addname in fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_attr.c mishandles ATTR_REPLACE operations with conversion of an attr from short to long form.

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 4.17
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 4.17.3-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2018-18690

  • linux Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 3.13.0-164.214
  • linux Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-141.167
  • linux Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-43.46
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 4.4.0-1037.40
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1074.84
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-1031.33
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.15.0-1026.27~16.04.1
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-1026.27

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2018-18690

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-rt RHEL 7 EXTRAS_RT 3.10.0-957.rt56.910.el7
  • kernel-rt-kvm RHEL 7 EXTRAS_RT 3.10.0-957.rt56.910.el7
  • kernel-rt-trace RHEL 7 EXTRAS_RT 3.10.0-957.rt56.910.el7
  • kernel-rt-debug-kvm RHEL 7 EXTRAS_RT 3.10.0-957.rt56.910.el7
  • kernel-rt-trace-kvm RHEL 7 EXTRAS_RT 3.10.0-957.rt56.910.el7
  • kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 RHEL 7 EXTRAS_RT 3.10.0-957.rt56.910.el7
  • kernel RHEL 7 3.10.0-957.el7
  • perf RHEL 7 3.10.0-957.el7

red hat advisories RHSA-2018:3096RHSA-2018:3083

  • kernel-ec2 SLE Module for Public Cloud 12 3.12.74-60.64.110.1
  • 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
  • kernel-azure SLES for SAP 12 SP3, SLES 12 SP3 4.4.162-4.19.2
  • kernel-syms-azure SLES for SAP 12 SP3, SLES 12 SP3 4.4.162-4.19.1
  • kernel-source-azure SLES for SAP 12 SP3, SLES 12 SP3 4.4.162-4.19.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2019:1289-1SUSE-SU-2019:0439-1SUSE-SU-2019:0095-1SUSE-SU-2018:3773-1SUSE-SU-2018:3689-1SUSE-SU-2018:3688-1

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-2018-18690 updated cvss 5.5

kernel: filesystem corruption due to an unchecked error condition during an xfs attribute change

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-957.el7, kernel 3.10.0-957.el7, bpftool 3.10.0-957.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-957.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-957.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-957.el7, +2 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-957.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-957.el7, kernel 3.10.0-957.el7, bpftool 3.10.0-957.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-957.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-957.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-957.el7, +2 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-957.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-957.el7, kernel 3.10.0-957.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-957.el7, kernel-kdump 3.10.0-957.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-957.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-957.el7, +4 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 3.10.0-957.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:3083
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time (v. 7) kernel-rt 3.10.0-957.rt56.910.el7, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-957.rt56.910.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time for NFV (v. 7) kernel-rt 3.10.0-957.rt56.910.el7, kernel-rt-kvm 3.10.0-957.rt56.910.el7, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-957.rt56.910.el7, kernel-rt-debug-kvm 3.10.0-957.rt56.910.el7, kernel-rt-trace-kvm 3.10.0-957.rt56.910.el7, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-957.rt56.910.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:3096
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-957.el7, kernel 3.10.0-957.el7, bpftool 3.10.0-957.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-957.el7, kernel-kdump 3.10.0-957.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-957.el7, +7 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 3.10.0-957.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-957.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 3.10.0-957.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-957.el7, kernel 3.10.0-957.el7, bpftool 3.10.0-957.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-957.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-957.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-957.el7, +2 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-957.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:3083
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kernel 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 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) kernel-headers 3.10.0-957.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) kernel-headers 3.10.0-957.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server (v. 7) kernel-headers 3.10.0-957.el7
    +3 more products
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) kernel-headers 3.10.0-957.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) kernel-headers 3.10.0-957.el7 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

0.68% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 52% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • bugzilla.kernel.org https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=199119 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.0 5.5 CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD 2.0 4.9 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-754 Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions
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.