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Vulnerability record · CVE-2018-12232 · published 12 June 2018

CVE-2018-12232: Linux kernel race condition vulnerability

Linux · Linux Kernel

In net/socket.c in the Linux kernel through 4.17.1, there is a race condition between fchownat and close in cases where they target the same socket file descriptor, related to the sock_close and sockfs_setattr functions. fchownat does not increment the file descriptor reference count, which allows close to set the socket to NULL during fchownat's execution, leading to a NULL pointer dereference and system crash.

5.9 CVSS 3.0 Medium EPSS 6.5% · top 6.4% CWE-362 · Race condition
5.9CVSS 3.0 base score, v2 7.1
6.5%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
1Affected product versions listed by NVD
18References
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

In net/socket.c in the Linux kernel through 4.17.1, there is a race condition between fchownat and close in cases where they target the same socket file descriptor, related to the sock_close and sockfs_setattr functions. fchownat does not increment the file descriptor reference count, which allows close to set the socket to NULL during fchownat's execution, leading to a NULL pointer dereference and system crash.

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

Affected products

1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=6d8c50dcb029872b298eea68cc6209c866fd3e14 PatchThird Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/104453 Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:2948
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/6d8c50dcb029872b298eea68cc6209c866fd3e14 PatchThird Party Advisory
https://lkml.org/lkml/2018/6/5/14 Third Party Advisory
https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/patch/926519/ PatchThird Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-1/
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-2/
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-3/
http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=6d8c50dcb029872b298eea68cc6209c866fd3e14 PatchThird Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/104453 Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:2948
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/6d8c50dcb029872b298eea68cc6209c866fd3e14 PatchThird Party Advisory
https://lkml.org/lkml/2018/6/5/14 Third Party Advisory
https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/patch/926519/ PatchThird Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-1/
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-2/
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-3/

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Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2018-12232), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-26). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.