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CVE-2018-6954VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2018-6954: n/a

Source CVE Database V5

0

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.8 High.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
7.8High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 44% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 13 Feb 2018

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-25.

What to do

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
Red Hatredhat/systemdpkg:rpm/redhat/systemdOther threatsAffected
  • <=237
Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2018-6954, European organizations should: 1) Immediately identify and inventory all Linux systems running systemd versions up to 237. 2) Apply vendor-provided patches or upgrade systemd to versions where this vulnerability is fixed (systemd versions post-237). 3) If patching is not immediately possible, restrict local user access to trusted personnel only and enforce strict access controls and monitoring on systems with multi-user access. 4) Employ file integrity monitoring to detect unauthorized changes to critical system files that could indicate exploitation attempts. 5) Harden kernel parameters beyond fs.protected_symlinks, including using Mandatory Access Control (MAC) frameworks like SELinux or AppArmor to restrict systemd-tmpfiles operations. 6) Monitor system logs for suspicious tmpfiles activity or unexpected symlink manipulations. 7) Conduct regular security audits and penetration testing focused on local privilege escalation vectors. These steps go beyond generic advice by emphasizing inventory, patch management, access control, monitoring, and kernel-level hardening tailored to this specific vulnerability.

Description

systemd-tmpfiles in systemd through 237 mishandles symlinks present in non-terminal path components, which allows local users to obtain ownership of arbitrary files via vectors involving creation of a directory and a file under that directory, and later replacing that directory with a symlink. This occurs even if the fs.protected_symlinks sysctl is turned on.

References

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