#VU15555 Heap out-of-bounds write in systemd - CVE-2018-15688

Vulnerability identifier: #VU15555

Vulnerability risk: High

CVSSv4.0: 8.1 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Amber]

CVE-ID: CVE-2018-15688

CWE-ID: CWE-787

Exploitation vector: Network

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
systemd
Server applications / Other server solutions

Vendor: Freedesktop.org

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to cause DoS condition or execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges.

The weakness exists within the written-from-scratch DHCPv6 client of the open-source Systemd management suite due to an out-of-bounds heap write in the DHCPv6 client when handling options sent by network adjacent DHCP servers. A remote attacker can supply maliciously crafted DHCPv6 packets, exploit the programming cockup, arbitrarily change parts of memory to crash or execute arbitrary code on the vulnerable Systemd-powered Linux machines.

Mitigation
Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

systemd: 174 - 239

---

External links
https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/10518

---

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.