CVE-2018-15686

HIGHNVD 7.87.8—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 7.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2022-05-13. NVD baseline CVSS 7.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
Weaponized
7.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPatch this weekExploitation is likely or a public exploit exists.
  • Public exploit code is available (Exploit-DB (verified), public exploit)
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 2%CVSS: 7.8Exploit: Exploit-DB (verified) · public exploitExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

A vulnerability in unit_deserialize of systemd allows an attacker to supply arbitrary state across systemd re-execution via NotifyAccess. This can be used to improperly influence systemd execution and possibly lead to root privilege escalation. Affected releases are systemd versions up to and including 239.

CVSS v3
7.8
EG Score
7.8(medium)
EG Risk
61(Track)
EG Risk 61/100SSVC: 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 computed
Severity78% × 45%
Exploitation65% × 40%
Automatability0% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
2%
EPSS %ILE
82%
KEV
Not listed

Published

October 26, 2018

Last Modified

June 9, 2025

References (22)

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2018-15686(1)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Patch Availability(6)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntusystemd (239-7ubuntu10.3) @ cosmic2026-05-28ubuntu
redhatsystemd-0:219-57.el7_5.92020-04-01redhat
redhatsystemd-0:219-42.el7_4.202020-02-25redhat
redhatansible-tower-37/ansible-tower-memcached-rhel7:1.4.15-282020-02-18redhat
redhatsystemd-0:219-62.el7_6.112019-10-29redhat
redhatsystemd-0:219-67.el72019-08-06redhat

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)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
systemd—239-12—
Debian:12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
systemd—239-12—
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
systemd—239-12—
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
systemd—239-12—
Debian:8(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
systemd215-17 ... 215-17+deb8u7 (8 versions)215-17+deb8u8—

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Additional Vendor Advisories

(6)

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.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 8× in last 7d / 28× 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 140 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-09-07 15:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-09-06 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-09-05 15:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-09-04 13:56 UTCEPSS rescore
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  8. 2026-09-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-09-01 03:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-08-30 19:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-08-28 21:36 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-08-27 14:21 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-08-26 14:41 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-08-25 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-08-23 00:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-08-22 07:07 UTCOSV refresh
  17. 2026-08-21 23:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-08-20 22:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-08-19 17:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-08-18 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-08-17 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-08-16 14:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-08-16 02:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-08-15 01:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-08-13 21:56 UTCEPSS rescore
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  1. 2026-08-12 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-08-11 13:36 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-08-09 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-08-08 16:32 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-08-07 16:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-08-06 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-08-06 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-08-06 10:15 UTCOSV refresh
  9. 2026-08-04 15:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-08-02 02:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-08-01 04:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-07-30 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-07-30 01:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-07-28 15:32 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-07-26 14:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-07-26 14:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-07-24 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-07-23 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-07-23 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-07-23 01:33 UTCEG score recompute
  21. 2026-07-22 22:14 UTCEG score recompute
  22. 2026-07-22 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-07-21 15:21 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-07-21 03:41 UTCOSV refresh
  25. 2026-07-20 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-07-20 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-07-19 14:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  28. 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  32. 2026-07-15 16:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  33. 2026-07-15 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  34. 2026-07-13 22:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  35. 2026-07-13 06:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  36. 2026-07-12 05:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  37. 2026-07-11 08:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  38. 2026-07-09 19:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  39. 2026-07-08 15:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  40. 2026-07-07 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  41. 2026-07-07 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  42. 2026-07-06 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  43. 2026-07-06 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  44. 2026-07-06 02:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  45. 2026-07-05 02:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  46. 2026-07-04 06:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  47. 2026-07-03 22:56 UTCOSV refresh
  48. 2026-07-02 16:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  49. 2026-07-01 15:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  50. 2026-07-01 15:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  51. 2026-06-30 23:19 UTCEPSS rescore
  52. 2026-06-30 23:19 UTCEPSS rescore
  53. 2026-06-29 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  54. 2026-06-28 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  55. 2026-06-28 04:53 UTCEPSS rescore
  56. 2026-06-28 04:53 UTCEPSS rescore
  57. 2026-06-27 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  58. 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  59. 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  60. 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  61. 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  62. 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  63. 2026-06-22 14:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  64. 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  65. 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  66. 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  67. 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  68. 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  69. 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  70. 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  71. 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  72. 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  73. 2026-06-16 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  74. 2026-06-16 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  75. 2026-06-15 17:45 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-45714✓ verified
    First seen Oct 29, 2018

    systemd - 'reexec' State Injection

    Open source ↗

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2018-15686?
CVE-2018-15686 is a high vulnerability published on October 26, 2018. A vulnerability in unit_deserialize of systemd allows an attacker to supply arbitrary state across systemd re-execution via NotifyAccess. This can be used to improperly influence systemd execution and possibly lead to root privilege escalation. Affected releases are systemd versions up to and…
When was CVE-2018-15686 disclosed?
CVE-2018-15686 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on October 26, 2018, with the most recent update on June 9, 2025. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2018-15686 actively exploited?
CVE-2018-15686 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 18.2% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2018-15686?
CVE-2018-15686 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2018-15686?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2018-15686, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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