Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2018-6954

high Nessus Plugin ID 222679

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Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

- 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. (CVE-2018-6954)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 222679

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2018_6954.nasl

Version: 1.4

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 3/4/2025

Updated: 7/16/2026

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Nessus Agent, Tenable Cloud Security, Tenable Self-Hosted Container Security, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 4.9

Percentile: 57.12

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.2

Temporal Score: 6.5

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2018-6954

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.8

Temporal Score: 7.4

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:P/RL:U/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:systemd-journal-gateway, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:systemd-sysv, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:systemd-libs, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:systemd-python, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:systemd-libs, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:libgudev1, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:systemd-networkd, cpe:/o:centos:centos:7, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:systemd-journal-gateway, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:systemd-networkd, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:systemd, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:systemd-sysv, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:systemd-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:systemd, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:libgudev1-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:systemd-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:libgudev1, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:systemd-resolved, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:systemd-resolved, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:systemd-python, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:libgudev1-devel

Required KB Items: Host/OS/identifier, Host/cpu, Host/local_checks_enabled, global_settings/vendor_unpatched

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 1/25/2018

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2018-6954

Detections

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