high 7.4

CVE-2018-16864 json

An allocation of memory without limits, that could result in the stack clashing with another memory region, was discovered in systemd-journ…

published 2019-01-11 7 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2018-8655

cvss: 7.4; version 3.0, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.7%; EPSS 0.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 53%
public exploits: 0; none known

An allocation of memory without limits, that could result in the stack clashing with another memory region, was discovered in systemd-journald when a program with long command line arguments calls syslog. A local attacker may use this flaw to crash systemd-journald or escalate his privileges. Versions through v240 are vulnerable.

Patch / fix

distros 6 links 2

debian ubuntu red hat suse opensuse arch linux

systemd Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 240-4

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2018-16864

systemd Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 229-4ubuntu21.15
systemd Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 237-3ubuntu10.11

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2018-16864

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

systemd RHEL 7 219-62.el7_6.2
libgudev1 RHEL 7 219-62.el7_6.2
systemd-libs RHEL 7 219-62.el7_6.2
systemd-sysv RHEL 7 219-62.el7_6.2
systemd-python RHEL 7 219-62.el7_6.2
systemd-networkd RHEL 7 219-62.el7_6.2
systemd-resolved RHEL 7 219-62.el7_6.2
systemd-journal-gateway RHEL 7 219-62.el7_6.2

red hat advisories RHSA-2019:0049 RHSA-2019:2402 RHSA-2019:0271 RHSA-2019:0204 RHSA-2019:0361 RHSA-2019:0342

systemd SLE Module for Basesystem 15 234-24.20.1
systemd SLES for SAP 12 SP4, SLES for SAP 12 SP3, SLES for SAP 12 SP2 +10 more 228-150.58.1
systemd SLES for SAP 12 SP1, SLES 12 SP1-LTSS 210-116.19.1
systemd SLES 12-LTSS 210-70.74.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2019:0054-2 SUSE-SU-2019:0137-1 SUSE-SU-2019:0135-1 SUSE-SU-2019:0054-1 SUSE-SU-2019:0053-1

systemd openSUSE Tumbleweed 249.4-2.2
systemd openSUSE Leap 15.0 234-lp150.20.12.1
systemd-mini openSUSE Leap 15.0 234-lp150.20.12.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:11420-1 openSUSE-SU-2019:0098-1

systemd Arch Linux 240.34-1

arch linux advisories AVG-845

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2018-16864 updated 2026-11-04 cvss 7.4

systemd: stack overflow when calling syslog from a command with long cmdline

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) systemd 219-62.el7_6.2, libgudev1 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-libs 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-sysv 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-python 219-62.el7_6.2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) systemd-networkd 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-resolved 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-journal-gateway 219-62.el7_6.2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) systemd 219-62.el7_6.2, libgudev1 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-libs 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-sysv 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-python 219-62.el7_6.2
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:0049
Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode EUS (v. 7.4) systemd 219-42.el7_4.13, libgudev1 219-42.el7_4.13, systemd-libs 219-42.el7_4.13, systemd-sysv 219-42.el7_4.13, systemd-python 219-42.el7_4.13
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:0271
Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode EUS (v. 7.5) systemd 219-57.el7_5.5, libgudev1 219-57.el7_5.5, systemd-libs 219-57.el7_5.5, systemd-sysv 219-57.el7_5.5, systemd-python 219-57.el7_5.5
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:0204
Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) systemd-networkd 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-resolved 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-journal-gateway 219-62.el7_6.2
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:0049
Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional EUS (v. 7.4) systemd-networkd 219-42.el7_4.13, systemd-resolved 219-42.el7_4.13, systemd-journal-gateway 219-42.el7_4.13
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:0271
Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional EUS (v. 7.5) systemd-networkd 219-57.el7_5.5, systemd-resolved 219-57.el7_5.5, systemd-journal-gateway 219-57.el7_5.5
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:0204
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server (v. 7) systemd 219-62.el7_6.2, libgudev1 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-libs 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-sysv 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-python 219-62.el7_6.2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server Optional (v. 7) systemd-networkd 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-resolved 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-journal-gateway 219-62.el7_6.2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) systemd 219-62.el7_6.2, libgudev1 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-libs 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-sysv 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-python 219-62.el7_6.2
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:0049
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server AUS (v. 7.3) systemd 219-30.el7_3.13, libgudev1 219-30.el7_3.13, systemd-libs 219-30.el7_3.13, systemd-sysv 219-30.el7_3.13, systemd-python 219-30.el7_3.13 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server E4S (v. 7.3) systemd 219-30.el7_3.13, libgudev1 219-30.el7_3.13, systemd-libs 219-30.el7_3.13, systemd-sysv 219-30.el7_3.13, systemd-python 219-30.el7_3.13
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:2402

show 11 more

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 7.4) systemd 219-42.el7_4.13, libgudev1 219-42.el7_4.13, systemd-libs 219-42.el7_4.13, systemd-sysv 219-42.el7_4.13, systemd-python 219-42.el7_4.13
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:0271
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 7.5) systemd 219-57.el7_5.5, libgudev1 219-57.el7_5.5, systemd-libs 219-57.el7_5.5, systemd-sysv 219-57.el7_5.5, systemd-python 219-57.el7_5.5
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:0204
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) systemd-networkd 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-resolved 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-journal-gateway 219-62.el7_6.2
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:0049
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional AUS (v. 7.3) systemd-networkd 219-30.el7_3.13, systemd-resolved 219-30.el7_3.13, systemd-journal-gateway 219-30.el7_3.13 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional E4S (v. 7.3) systemd-networkd 219-30.el7_3.13, systemd-resolved 219-30.el7_3.13, systemd-journal-gateway 219-30.el7_3.13
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:2402
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional EUS (v. 7.4) systemd-networkd 219-42.el7_4.13, systemd-resolved 219-42.el7_4.13, systemd-journal-gateway 219-42.el7_4.13
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:0271
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional EUS (v. 7.5) systemd-networkd 219-57.el7_5.5, systemd-resolved 219-57.el7_5.5, systemd-journal-gateway 219-57.el7_5.5
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:0204
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional TUS (v. 7.3) systemd-networkd 219-30.el7_3.13, systemd-resolved 219-30.el7_3.13, systemd-journal-gateway 219-30.el7_3.13 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server TUS (v. 7.3) systemd 219-30.el7_3.13, libgudev1 219-30.el7_3.13, systemd-libs 219-30.el7_3.13, systemd-sysv 219-30.el7_3.13, systemd-python 219-30.el7_3.13
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:2402
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) systemd 219-62.el7_6.2, libgudev1 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-libs 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-sysv 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-python 219-62.el7_6.2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) systemd-networkd 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-resolved 219-62.el7_6.2, systemd-journal-gateway 219-62.el7_6.2
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:0049
Red Hat Virtualization 4 Hypervisor for RHEL 7 rhvm-appliance 4.2-20190129.0.el7, redhat-virtualization-host 4.2-20190129.0.el7_6, redhat-virtualization-host-image-update 4.2-20190129.0.el7_6 Red Hat Virtualization 4 Management Agent for RHEL 7 Hosts rhvm-appliance 4.2-20190129.0.el7
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:0361
Red Hat RHEL 7-based RHEV-H for RHEV 4 (build requirements) redhat-release-virtualization-host 4.2-8.1.el7, redhat-virtualization-host-image-update-placeholder 4.2-8.1.el7
fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:0342
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 systemd, systemd-pam, systemd-libs, systemd-udev, systemd-tests, systemd-container, +1 more
not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none
Automatable: no
Technical impact: total
Assessed: 17 mo ago (2025-06-09)

Exploit prediction

0.71% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 53% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

qualys.com https://www.qualys.com/2019/01/09/system-down/system-down.txt referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	3.0	7.4	CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD	3.1	7.8	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD	2.0	4.6	AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Affected products

The systemd Project systemd

Classification

Weakness

CWE-770 Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling

References

bugzilla.redhat.com /show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2018-16864
issue-tracking, patch, third-party-advisory
oracle.com /technetwork/security-advisory/cpuapr2019-5072813.html
patch, third-party-advisory
qualys.com /2019/01/09/system-down/system-down.txt
exploit, third-party-advisory
access.redhat.com /errata/RHSA-2019:0342
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
debian.org /security/2019/dsa-4367
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
access.redhat.com /errata/RHSA-2019:0204
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
usn.ubuntu.com /3855-1/
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
access.redhat.com /errata/RHSA-2019:0049
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
access.redhat.com /errata/RHSA-2019:0271
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
access.redhat.com /errata/RHSA-2019:0361
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
security.gentoo.org /glsa/201903-07
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
access.redhat.com /errata/RHBA-2019:0327
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
access.redhat.com /errata/RHSA-2019:2402
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
securityfocus.com /bid/106523
vdb-entry, third-party-advisory
lists.debian.org /debian-lts-announce/2019/01/msg00016.html
mailing-list, third-party-advisory
security.netapp.com /advisory/ntap-20190117-0001/
third-party-advisory
openwall.com /lists/oss-security/2021/07/20/2
mailing-list

Sources

CVE List CVE-2018-16864
NVD CVE-2018-16864

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

Summary