keepalived: Improper pathname validation allows for overwrite of arbitrary filenames via symlinks
Published Nov 8, 2018
7.0
HIGHCVSS 3.0
EPSS 0.50%
Description
keepalived 2.0.8 didn't check for pathnames with symlinks when writing data to a temporary file upon a call to PrintData or PrintStats. This allowed local users to overwrite arbitrary files if fs.protected_symlinks is set to 0, as demonstrated by a symlink from /tmp/keepalived.data or /tmp/keepalived.stats to /etc/passwd.
Affected products
No data.
- 2.0.8
No data.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
keepalived-0:1.3.5-16.el7
Fixed · RHSA-2019:2285
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
keepalived
Will not fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
keepalived
Not affected
| Product | Package | State | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | keepalived-0:1.3.5-16.el7 | Fixed | RHSA-2019:2285 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | keepalived | Will not fix | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | keepalived | Not affected | n/a |
No package ranges for this CVE.
Remediation
Red Hat statement
This issue affects the versions of keepalived as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and 7. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 is now in Maintenance Support 2 Phase of the support and maintenance life cycle. This has been rated as having a security impact of Moderate, and is not currently planned to be addressed in future updates. For additional information, refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle: https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/errata/. The keepalived packages shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and 7 are not built with dbus support, therefore vulnerable PrintData and PrintStats methods are not compiled in resulting RPM, which means this issue cannot be exploited via dbus messages on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and 7. However, creation of pidfiles is also vulnerable to symlink attack and it is possible for local attacker to overwrite arbitrary file with the process identifiers of keepalived processes, but only if keepalived was launched with option to change pidfile location pointing to unsafe location and attacker is able to exploit Time-of-check Time-of-use race condition and create a symlink during a very small time frame in the same location the pidfile was specified. The default location used for pidfiles is safe. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 is by default configured with fs.protected_symlinks=1 which largely mitigates symlink attacks.
Metrics
No CVSS v4.0 score for this CVE.
No CVSS v3.1 score for this CVE.
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
1 other source (Red Hat) ▾
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:P
This CVE is not in the KEV list.
No CISA SSVC assessment for this CVE yet.
Estimated probability of exploitation in the wild in the next 30 days (FIRST EPSS). As of Oct 1, 2026.
Score over time
2021–2026- EPSS v1
- EPSS v5
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
Percentile over time
- EPSS v1
- EPSS v5
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
Table of values (8 key points)
Flat stretches are collapsed; showing up to 120 newest points.
| Date | Score | Percentile | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | 0.50% (0.00501) | 40.63th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Sep 20, 2026 | 0.50% (0.00501) | 41.91th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jul 20, 2024 | 0.04% (0.00042) | 5.06th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 7, 2023 | 0.04% (0.00042) | 5.63th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 6, 2023 | 0.95% (0.00950) | 32.28th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 4, 2022 | 0.95% (0.00950) | 13.46th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 3, 2022 | 0.67% (0.00666) | 18.77th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Apr 14, 2021 | 0.67% (0.00666) | 0.00th | v1 |
References (9)
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2285 vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHAT
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-19044 Vendor Advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1651863 Issue Tracking
- https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1015141 x_refsource_MISCIssue TrackingThird Party Advisory
- https://github.com/acassen/keepalived/commit/04f2d32871bb3b11d7dc024039952f2fe2750306 x_refsource_MISCPatchThird Party Advisory
- https://github.com/acassen/keepalived/issues/1048 x_refsource_MISCExploitPatchThird Party Advisory
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-19044
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201903-01 vendor-advisoryx_refsource_GENTOOThird Party Advisory
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-19044
| Link | Providers | Tags |
|---|---|---|
| https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2285 | vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHAT | |
| https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-19044 | Vendor Advisory | |
| https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1651863 | Issue Tracking | |
| https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1015141 | x_refsource_MISCIssue TrackingThird Party Advisory | |
| https://github.com/acassen/keepalived/commit/04f2d32871bb3b11d7dc024039952f2fe2750306 | x_refsource_MISCPatchThird Party Advisory | |
| https://github.com/acassen/keepalived/issues/1048 | x_refsource_MISCExploitPatchThird Party Advisory | |
| https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-19044 | ||
| https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201903-01 | vendor-advisoryx_refsource_GENTOOThird Party Advisory | |
| https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-19044 |
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.