CVE-2018-16865
systemd: stack overflow when receiving many journald entries
Severity
ImportantRed Hat Product Security
CVSS 3.0
Review impact separately from score.
Published · January 10, 2019
Updated · June 28, 2026
Description
An allocation of memory without limits, that could result in the stack clashing with another memory region, was discovered in systemd-journald when many entries are sent to the journal socket. A local attacker, or a remote one if systemd-journal-remote is used, may use this flaw to crash systemd-journald or execute code with journald privileges.
Statement
This issue affects the versions of systemd as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. Red Hat Product Security has rated this issue as having a security impact of Important because it allows an attacker to crash systemd-journald or escalate his privileges. For additional information, refer to the Issue Severity Classification: https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 ships systemd-journal-remote through the optional systemd-journal-gateway package, which is not installed, nor enabled by default.
CVSS score applicability
The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.
Mitigation
No mitigation is specified in collected source.
CVSS / CWE
CVSS 3.0 · 7.5CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE-770 · Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling