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Full vulnerability report · 2018
CVE-2018-1122High confidence

procps-ng before version 3.3.15 is vulnerable to a local privilege escalation in top

[UNKNOWN] · procps-ng, procps

7.3HighCVSS 3.0
Recommended action
Within 7 days

High technical severity with public exploit material referenced by a structured source; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.

Fix not verified
Optional official sources

National CERT insights
?CERT means Computer Emergency Response Team; CSIRT is the closely related term Computer Security Incident Response Team.

Select the national-authority views to include. The exact source language is shown on each matched advisory. Your choice is remembered on this device and encoded in the shareable URL.

Official European source

ENISA European Vulnerability Database

Official EUVD identifiers, advisory evidence and known-exploited context. Missing fields are not treated as evidence of low risk.

1 current
ENISA EUVD identifier

EUVD-2018-11766

No EUVD known-exploited evidence

ENISA has published the identifier mapping but no EUVD description has been stored yet.

EUVD state
Present in the current official mapping
Known exploitation
Not present in the current ENISA EUVD known-exploited dataset. This is not proof of no exploitation.
ENISA score
Not supplied in the stored EUVD record
Advisory evidence
No linked advisory details stored yet
Recommended actionWithin 7 days

High technical severity with public exploit material referenced by a structured source; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.

Fix not verified
01

What, why and how

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.

What

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.

Why

The product imports, requires, or includes executable functionality (such as a library) from a source that is outside of the intended control sphere.

How

An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may gain additional privileges.

What

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.

Why

The product imports, requires, or includes executable functionality (such as a library) from a source that is outside of the intended control sphere.

How

An attacker operating through local access may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may gain additional privileges.

02

Exploit reality and attack path

CVSS severity, EPSS forecast probability, public exploit material and CISA-confirmed exploitation are separate signals.

Observed exploitation
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
No confirmed evidence

No CISA KEV match was present at the last successful refresh. This means no confirmation from that source, not proof of no exploitation.

Public PoC / exploit material
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
Reference recorded

A structured CVE source labels at least one public reference as exploit material. BlackTree has not independently validated that it is safe, reliable or weaponised.

Likely attack path
local access → Inclusion of Functionality from Untrusted Control Sphere → gain additional privileges
Attack surface
Local
Privileges required
Low: a basic authenticated account is required
User interaction
Required interaction required
Attack complexity
Low: no specialised conditions are recorded
Security boundary
Unchanged: impact remains within the vulnerable component's security authority
Weakness
?CWE means Common Weakness Enumeration: a standard category for the underlying weakness.
CWE-829 ↗

CWE-829: Inclusion of Functionality from Untrusted Control Sphere. The product imports, requires, or includes executable functionality (such as a library) from a source that is outside of the intended control sphere.

CVSS vector
?CVSS means Common Vulnerability Scoring System. The vector records the metric values used to calculate technical severity.
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Common Vulnerability Scoring System 3.0: the compact vector below is decoded into plain language.

AVLocalAttack vector: The attacker needs local access to the vulnerable system.ACLowAttack complexity: No specialised conditions are required beyond attacker-controlled input.PRLowPrivileges required: The attacker needs basic user-level privileges.UIRequiredUser interaction: Another user must perform an action for exploitation to succeed.SUnchangedScope: The security impact remains within the vulnerable component's authority.CHighConfidentiality impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.IHighIntegrity impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.AHighAvailability impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.
Post-exploitation / living off the land
The issue can support a local privilege or sandbox boundary transition; normal system utilities may then be available in the gained context.
Privilege escalationCWE-829Public exploit reference
A

Official authority intelligence

Only matched European and national findings are included. Language selectors and unavailable sources are omitted.

BSI · German · WID-SEC-W-2022-0517Red Hat Enterprise Linux: Mehrere Schwachstellen

Ein entfernter, anonymer oder authentisierter Angreifer kann mehrere Schwachstellen in Red Hat Enterprise Linux ausnutzen, um dadurch die Integrität, Vertraulichkeit und Verfügbarkeit zu gefährden.

Official advisory
03

Patch and workaround

Operational remediation based on structured source evidence.

Status
?Patch availability is based on structured fixed-version fields and authoritative update references. If no fix is verified, check the vendor advisory before making a change.
Fix not verified
Affected
procps-ng 3.3.15
Fixed
No fixed version is explicitly recorded in the structured CVE data.
Action
No verified patch reference is present in the current structured sources. Check the vendor advisory before making a change.
Workaround
No verified workaround is recorded. Limit untrusted access and use least privilege until authoritative guidance is available.
04

Evidence and provenance

Published 23 May 2018 · Last source change 5 Aug 2024, 03:51 UTC · CWE-829 · Inclusion of Functionality from Untrusted Control Sphere

CVE recordCVE.org · 5.1
CVSS sourceCNA
EPSS source
?The date BlackTree first stored a score for this CVE from the daily FIRST EPSS feed.
FIRST · tracked since 2026-09-01
European sourceENISA EUVD · EUVD-2018-11766
Product sourceCNA
Remediation sourceCVE/CNA references
CWE sourceCNA
NVD statusNVD modified after enrichment

Core structured fields are present and their contributing authorities are shown above.

Material change intelligence

What changed after publication

View recent updates →
  1. Vendor guidanceAuthoritative vendor guidance changed from vendor advisory to no authoritative guidance recorded.
    Before
    vendor advisory
    After
    no authoritative guidance recorded
    CNA ↗
  2. ENISA EUVD mappingEUVD-2018-11766 was added to the official ENISA EUVD mapping for this CVE.
    Before
    not recorded
    After
    {"euvdId":"EUVD-2018-11766"}
    ENISA EUVD ↗
  3. Catalogue recordCVE added to the BlackTree catalogue.
    CNA ↗
Material fields only · duplicate refreshes suppressed · history retained for the configured operational retention period
CVE published
ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2018-11766↗CVE authority or vendor reference↗Public exploit reference↗Public exploit reference↗Official CVE record (CNA and ADP data)↗NVD record↗
Technical terms and abbreviations used in this report
CVE
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures: the public identifier for one disclosed vulnerability.
CVSS
Common Vulnerability Scoring System: a technical severity framework; it is not patching priority by itself.
EPSS
Exploit Prediction Scoring System: FIRST's estimate of the probability that exploitation activity will be observed in the next 30 days; it is a forecast, not confirmation.
CWE
Common Weakness Enumeration: the standard category describing the underlying software or hardware weakness.
CNA
CVE Numbering Authority: an organisation authorised to assign and publish CVE records.
CISA ADP
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Authorized Data Publisher: structured enrichment added to a CVE record.
NVD
National Vulnerability Database: NIST's enrichment service for CVE records.
CERT / CSIRT
A computer security incident response team that publishes warnings or coordinates incident response.
PoC
Proof of concept: public material that demonstrates or helps reproduce exploitation.
CSAF
Common Security Advisory Framework: a machine-readable format for security advisories.
LoTL
Living off the land: abuse of legitimate tools or system functions during an attack.
Free version - for non-commercial use only.CVE-2018-1122 · cve.blacktree.nl