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Public proof of conceptFix available

CVE-2018-1122

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

  • Published2018-05-23
  • WeaknessCWE-829

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

procps-ng before version 3.3.15 is vulnerable to a local privilege escalation in top. If a user runs top with HOME unset in an attacker-controlled directory, the attacker could achieve privilege escalation by exploiting one of several vulnerabilities in the config_file() function.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2018-05-30Exploit-DB entryExploit-DB

Versions per branch

NVD
Canonical ubuntu linux
BranchAffectedFixed in
12.4= 12.04no fix published
14.4= 14.04no fix published
16.4= 16.04no fix published
17.10= 17.10no fix published
18.4= 18.04no fix published
Debian debian linux
BranchAffectedFixed in
7.0= 7.0no fix published
8.0= 8.0no fix published
9.0= 9.0no fix published
Procps-ng project procps-ng
BranchAffectedFixed in
3.3< 3.3.153.3.15

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Distribution builds and vendor advisories

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Packages

  • procpsUbuntu:18.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 2:3.3.12-3ubuntu1.1
  • procpsUbuntu:16.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 2:3.3.10-4ubuntu2.4
  • procpsUbuntu:14.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 1:3.3.9-1ubuntu2.3
  • procpsSUSE:OpenStack Cloud 7all versions · fixed in 3.3.9-11.18.1
  • procpsSUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP4all versions · fixed in 3.3.9-11.18.1
  • procpsSUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP3all versions · fixed in 3.3.9-11.11.1
  • procpsSUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP3all versions · fixed in 3.3.9-11.14.1
  • procpsSUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP3all versions · fixed in 3.3.9-11.18.1

43 more package ranges on OSV.dev

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2018-1122 Red Hat Product Security202 products fixed · 4 known affected

    procps: Local privilege escalation in top

    procps.src as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 · procps as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 · procps-devel as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 · +1 more

  • RHSA-2020:1464 Red Hat Product Security58 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: procps-ng security update

  • RHSA-2020:1265 Red Hat Product Security43 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: procps-ng security update

  • RHSA-2020:0595 Red Hat Product Security35 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: procps-ng security update

  • RHBA-2020:0547 Red Hat Product Security3 products fixed

    Red Hat Bug Fix Advisory: Container Image Rebuild for Ansible Tower 3.4 Dependency

  • RHSA-2019:2189 Red Hat Product Security63 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: procps-ng security and bug fix update

Full record on NVD

Fix

  1. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2020:1464 · 58 productsFor details on how to apply this update, which includes the changes described in this advisory, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258
  2. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHBA-2020:0547 · 3 productsFor information on upgrading Ansible Tower, reference the Ansible Tower Upgrade and Migration Guide: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-tower/latest/html/upgrade-migration-guide/index.html
  3. No fix planned, says the vendor Red Hat Product Security CVE-2018-1122 · 4 productsWill not fix

Detection

read 2026-11-09 09:28 UTC
Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
EDB-44806
Exploit-DB
Proof of concept
Metasploit modules
none listed
Metasploit Framework

Sources

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2018-05-23
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Modified
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-mphr-mvhq-p32f

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-1122?

procps-ng before version 3.3.15 is vulnerable to a local privilege escalation in top. If a user runs top with HOME unset in an attacker-controlled directory, the attacker could achieve privilege escalation by exploiting one of several vulnerabilities in the config_file() function.

Is CVE-2018-1122 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2018-1122 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 1.2% on 2026-11-08, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2018-1122?

CVE-2018-1122 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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Sources for this record