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.
References (5)
Core 5
Core References
Third Party Advisory x_refsource_confirm
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190307-0007/
Issue Tracking, Patch, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_confirm
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2018-16888
Third Party Advisory vendor-advisory
x_refsource_redhat
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2091
Mailing List mailing-list
x_refsource_mlist
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/5960a34a524848cd722fd7ab7e2227eac10107b0f90d9d1e9c3caa74%40%3Cuser.cassandra.apache.org%3E
Third Party Advisory vendor-advisory
x_refsource_ubuntu
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4269-1/
Scores
CVSS v3
4.7
EPSS
0.0030
EPSS Percentile
21.3%
Attack Vector
LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Details
CWE
CWE-269
CWE-250
Status
published
Products (7)
canonical/ubuntu_linux
16.04
canonical/ubuntu_linux
18.04
canonical/ubuntu_linux
19.10
netapp/active_iq_performance_analytics_services
netapp/element_software
redhat/enterprise_linux
7.0
systemd_project/systemd
< 237
Published
Jan 14, 2019
Tracked Since
Feb 18, 2026