CVE-2018-12232: linux linux_kernel
Vulnerability summary
CVE-2018-12232 is a high (CVSS 7.1) vulnerability in linux linux_kernel. EPSS estimates a 6.30% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 93.6% of scored vulnerabilities.
Not severe (CVSS 5.9, network access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources
Source freshness unavailable
How is this decided?Advisory lineage
Upstream 0 · Downstream 12 · Related 11Timeline
- 12-06-2018PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
- 05-08-2024Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.
Description
In net/socket.c in the Linux kernel through 4.17.1, there is a race condition between fchownat and close in cases where they target the same socket file descriptor, related to the sock_close and sockfs_setattr functions. fchownat does not increment the file descriptor reference count, which allows close to set the socket to NULL during fchownat's execution, leading to a NULL pointer dereference and system crash.
CVSS metrics
4 scores · 3 sources · 2 versions- OSV · UbuntuEcosystem advisory · calculated5.9MediumCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- OSV · DebianEcosystem advisory · calculated5.9MediumCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS trend
Probability
6.30%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Percentile
94%
Versus all other CVEs
30-day change
Decrease -0.23 pp
From 6.53% on 04-10-2026
Known exploited
Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEVNot in the CISA KEV catalog.
ENISA CNWNot in the ENISA CNW catalog.
CIRCLNot in the CIRCL catalog.
Public exploits
0 foundNo public exploits indexed.
Weaknesses
CWE · root causeAffected systems
Known conditions: network-reachable, no authentication, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.
Ubuntu8 products
- linux< 4.15.0-33.36
- linux-aws< 4.15.0-1020.20
- linux-azure< 4.15.0-1022.22~16.04.1 | < 4.15.0-1022.23
- linux-gcp< 4.15.0-1018.19~16.04.2 | < 4.15.0-1018.19
- linux-hwe< 4.15.0-33.36~16.04.1
Debian1 product
- linux< 4.17.3-1
Linux1 product
- linux_kernel≤ 4.17.1
3 vendors · 10 products
References
15 links- github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/6d8c50dcb029872b298eea68cc6209c866fd3e14X Refsource MISCPatchThird Party AdvisoryREPORT
