CVE-2018-16888
It was discovered systemd does not correctly check the content of PIDFile files before using it to kill processes. When a service is run…
- 4.4MediumCVSS base score
- 0.29%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 78% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
It was discovered systemd does not correctly check the content of PIDFile files before using it to kill processes. When a service is run from an unprivileged user (e.g. User field set in the service file), a local attacker who is able to write to the PIDFile of the mentioned service may use this flaw to trick systemd into killing other services and/or privileged processes. Versions before v237 are vulnerable.
Timeline
ID reserved
By redhat
- 4 months later
· 4 months later
Published
- 6 years later
· 6 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| redhatCNA (assigner) | 3.0 | Medium4.4 | CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | Medium4.7 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.29% · top 78% of all CVEs (10 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 4.4.
Affected products
- affected v237
References
5
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190307-0007/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2018-16888 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- RHSA-2019:2091 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- [cassandra-user] 20190809 cassandra does not start with new systemd version (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- USN-4269-1 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTUx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2018-8676 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2018-16888)Record last updated .