CVE-2018-8897
A statement in the System Programming Guide of the Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual (SDM) was mishandled in…
- 7.8HighCVSS base score
- 18.5%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 2.7% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- 3Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
A statement in the System Programming Guide of the Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual (SDM) was mishandled in the development of some or all operating-system kernels, resulting in unexpected behavior for #DB exceptions that are deferred by MOV SS or POP SS, as demonstrated by (for example) privilege escalation in Windows, macOS, some Xen configurations, or FreeBSD, or a Linux kernel crash. The MOV to SS and POP SS instructions inhibit interrupts (including NMIs), data breakpoints, and single step trap exceptions until the instruction boundary following the next instruction (SDM Vol. 3A; section 6.8.3). (The inhibited data breakpoints are those on memory accessed by the MOV to SS or POP to SS instruction itself.) Note that debug exceptions are not inhibited by the interrupt enable (EFLAGS.IF) system flag (SDM Vol. 3A; section 2.3). If the instruction following the MOV to SS or POP to SS instruction is an instruction like SYSCALL, SYSENTER, INT 3, etc. that transfers control to the operating system at CPL < 3, the debug exception is delivered after the transfer to CPL < 3 is complete. OS kernels may not expect this order of events and may therefore experience unexpected behavior when it occurs.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list a Metasploit module and 2 Exploit-DB entries for it. 2 references of the record are tagged as an exploit.
Show the exploits5
Metasploit modules1 module
- Microsoft Windows POP/MOV SS Local Privilege Elevation Vulnerability (Metasploit module) (opens in a new tab)
exploit/windows/local/mov_ssRank excellentdisclosed 8 May 2018
Exploit-DB2 entries
- Microsoft Windows - POP/MOV SS Local Privilege Elevation (Metasploit) (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 45024local, windowspublished 13 Jul 2018Verified
- Microsoft Windows - 'POP/MOV SS' Privilege Escalation (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 44697local, windowspublished 22 May 2018Verified
References tagged exploit2 references
- 44697 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- 45024 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By mitre
- 48 days later
· 48 days 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.0 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 18.5% · top 2.7% of all CVEs (10 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.8.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References
48
- https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/d8ba61ba58c88d5207c1ba2f7d9a2280e7d03be9 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2018/05/08/4 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 1040849 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACKx_transferred
- 104071 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- RHSA-2018:1350 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX234679 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- RHSA-2018:1347 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- 44697 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- [debian-lts-announce] 20180525 [SECURITY] [DLA 1383-1] xen security update (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- 1040866 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACKx_transferred
- [debian-lts-announce] 20181112 [SECURITY] [DLA 1577-1] xen security update (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- [debian-lts-announce] 20180601 [SECURITY] [DLA 1392-1] linux security update (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- https://support.apple.com/HT208742 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- RHSA-2018:1346 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- RHSA-2018:1348 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- RHSA-2018:1354 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- https://svnweb.freebsd.org/base?view=revision&revision=333368 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- DSA-4196 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_DEBIANx_transferred
- https://www.freebsd.org/security/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-18:06.debugreg.asc (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 1040744 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACKx_transferred
- https://www.triplefault.io/2018/05/spurious-db-exceptions-with-pop-ss.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- RHSA-2018:1351 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1567074 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-260.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- RHSA-2018:1319 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- DSA-4201 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_DEBIANx_transferred
- https://help.ecostruxureit.com/display/public/UADCE725/Security+fixes+in+StruxureWare+Data+Center+Expert+v7.6.0 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- RHSA-2018:1355 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20180927-0002/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- RHSA-2018:1345 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- 45024 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- RHSA-2018:1349 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2018-8897 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- RHSA-2018:1352 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- RHSA-2018:1318 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=d8ba61ba58c88d5207c1ba2f7d9a2280e7d03be9 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/10386677/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- VU#631579 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_CERT-VNx_transferred
- https://github.com/can1357/CVE-2018-8897/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- RHSA-2018:1524 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2018/05/08/1 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 1040861 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACKx_transferred
- RHSA-2018:1353 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- USN-3641-2 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTUx_transferred
- https://www.synology.com/support/security/Synology_SA_18_21 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- 1040882 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACKx_transferred
- USN-3641-1 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTUx_transferred
- http://www.huawei.com/en/psirt/security-advisories/huawei-sa-20190921-01-debug-en (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_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-2018-20505 (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-2018-8897)Record last updated .