A flaw was found affecting the Linux kernel before version 4.17. By mmap()ing a FUSE-backed file onto a process's memory containing command line arguments (or environment strings), an attacker can cause utilities from psutils or procps (such as ps, w) or any other program which makes a read() call to the /proc//cmdline (or /proc//environ) files to block indefinitely (denial of service) or for some controlled time (as a synchronization primitive for other attacks).
CVE-2018-1120
Score 5.3 from GitHub Security Advisory published 2022-05-13. NVD baseline CVSS 2.8; sources differ by 2.5.
- Lower severity and no public exploit yet
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 2.8
- EG Score
- 5.3(medium)
- EG Risk
- 44(Track)EG Risk 44/100SSVC: Track
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).
How it’s computedSeverity53% × 45%Exploitation40% × 40%Automatability30% × 15%Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence. - EPSS PROB
- 7%
- EPSS %ILE
- 94%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
June 20, 2018
Last Modified
November 21, 2024
References (30)
- secalert@redhathttp://seclists.org/oss-sec/2018/q2/122
- secalert@redhathttp://www.securityfocus.com/bid/104229
- secalert@redhathttps://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:2948
- secalert@redhathttps://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3083
- secalert@redhathttps://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3096
- secalert@redhathttps://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2018-1120
- secalert@redhathttps://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=7f7ccc2ccc2e70c6054685f5e3522efa81556830
- secalert@redhathttps://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/07/msg00020.html
- secalert@redhathttps://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201805-14
- secalert@redhathttps://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-1/
- secalert@redhathttps://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-2/
- secalert@redhathttps://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-3/
- secalert@redhathttps://usn.ubuntu.com/3910-1/
- secalert@redhathttps://usn.ubuntu.com/3910-2/
- secalert@redhathttps://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/44806/
Vendor Advisories for CVE-2018-1120(1)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
Patch Availability(10)
| Vendor / Ecosystem | Fixed in / Patch | Released | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ubuntu | linux-image-virtual-lts-xenial (4.4.0.143.125) @ trusty | 2026-05-28 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-unsigned-4.15.0-33-lowlatency (4.15.0-33.36~16.04.1) @ xenial | 2026-05-28 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-unsigned-4.15.0-33-lowlatency (4.15.0-33.36) @ bionic | 2026-05-28 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-unsigned-4.15.0-1022-azure (4.15.0-1022.22~16.04.1) @ xenial | 2026-05-28 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-virtual-lts-xenial (4.4.0.143.151) @ xenial | 2026-05-28 | ubuntu |
| redhat | kernel-0:3.10.0-693.76.1.el7 | 2020-09-22 | redhat |
| redhat | kernel-rt-1:3.10.0-693.76.1.rt56.676.el6rt | 2020-09-22 | redhat |
| redhat | kernel-rt-0:3.10.0-957.rt56.910.el7 | 2018-10-30 | redhat |
| redhat | kernel-alt-0:4.14.0-115.el7a | 2018-10-30 | redhat |
| redhat | kernel-0:3.10.0-957.el7 | 2018-10-30 | redhat |
Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.
Affected Packages
(5 across 5 ecosystems)
Debian:11(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | — | 4.16.12-1 | — |
Debian:12(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | — | 4.16.12-1 | — |
Debian:13(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | — | 4.16.12-1 | — |
Debian:14(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | — | 4.16.12-1 | — |
Debian:8(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux-4.9 | — | 4.9.110-1~deb8u1 | — |
Weakness Classification(2)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Additional Vendor Advisories
(9)
Vendors that published advisories for this CVE beyond the curated set above. Broader coverage but minimal per-row detail — click through for the original advisory.
- Red HatRHSA-2018:3083MODERATE2018-05-17
RHSA-2018:3083 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2018:3096MODERATE2018-05-17
RHSA-2018:3096 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2020:3804MODERATE2018-05-17
RHSA-2020:3804 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2020:3810MODERATE2018-05-17
RHSA-2020:3810 — Moderate
- UbuntuUSN-3752-1MEDIUM
Linux kernel vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-3752-2MEDIUM
Linux kernel (HWE) vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-3752-3MEDIUM
Linux kernel (Azure, GCP, OEM) vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-3910-1MEDIUM
Linux kernel vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-3910-2MEDIUM
Linux kernel (Xenial HWE) vulnerabilities
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 7× in last 7d / 24× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 100 of 141 total refreshes for this CVE.
- 2026-09-07 15:57 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-06 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-05 15:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-04 13:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-04 05:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-02 14:07 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-01 03:32 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-28 21:36 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-27 14:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-26 14:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-25 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-22 14:37 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-21 23:45 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-20 22:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-19 17:00 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-18 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-17 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-16 14:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-16 02:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-15 01:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-13 21:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-12 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-09 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-08 16:32 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 75 moreShow fewer
- 2026-08-07 16:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-06 18:35 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-06 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-05 19:13 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-04 15:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-02 02:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-01 04:12 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-30 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-30 01:27 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-28 15:32 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-25 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-24 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-24 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 01:32 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 22:12 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 14:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 10:47 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-20 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-20 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 14:28 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 16:55 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 16:55 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 22:27 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 22:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-12 05:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-11 08:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-09 19:06 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-08 15:11 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-07 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-07 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 02:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-05 02:27 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-04 06:28 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-04 06:28 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-04 06:26 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-02 16:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-01 15:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-01 15:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-30 23:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-30 23:19 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-29 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 04:53 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 04:53 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-27 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-27 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-22 14:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-16 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
Publicly available exploits
(1 reference)Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Exploit-DB entry). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.
- Exploit-DBEDB-44806First seen May 30, 2018
Procps-ng - Multiple Vulnerabilities
Open source ↗
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2018-1120?
When was CVE-2018-1120 disclosed?
Is CVE-2018-1120 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2018-1120?
How do I remediate CVE-2018-1120?
Dependency Blast Radius
See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2018-1120
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2018-1120?
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