HIGH

CVE-2018-15686

CVSS v3

7.8

HIGH

EPSS Score

2.3 %

exploit probability, as of 2026-10-18

CISA KEV

known exploited

Exploitation

—

SSVC status

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Affected and fixed versions

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.

Vendor advisories

CVE-2018-15686 Red Hat Product Security1,267 products fixed
systemd: line splitting via fgets() allows for state injection during daemon-reexec
RHSA-2020:1264 Red Hat Product Security90 products fixed
Red Hat Security Advisory: systemd security and bug fix update
RHSA-2020:0593 Red Hat Product Security72 products fixed
Red Hat Security Advisory: systemd 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-2019:3222 Red Hat Product Security122 products fixed
Red Hat Security Advisory: systemd security and bug fix update
RHSA-2019:2091 Red Hat Product Security130 products fixed
Red Hat Security Advisory: systemd security, bug fix, and enhancement update

Full record on NVD

Description

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.

Technical details

Published: 2018-10-26
Exploit-DB: EDB-45714

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-15686?

Is CVE-2018-15686 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2018-15686 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 2.3% on 2026-10-18, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2018-15686?

CVE-2018-15686 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (HIGH severity).

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