Time-of-check time-of-use race condition in [UNKNOWN] QEMU:
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · None · None
- Fix status
- No fix listed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA.
Summary
A flaw was found in qemu Media Transfer Protocol (MTP). The code opening files in usb_mtp_get_object and usb_mtp_get_partial_object and directories in usb_mtp_object_readdir doesn't consider that the underlying filesystem may have changed since the time lstat(2) was called in usb_mtp_object_alloc, a classical TOCTTOU problem. An attacker with write access to the host filesystem shared with a guest can use this property to navigate the host filesystem in the context of the QEMU process and read any file the QEMU process has access to. Access to the filesystem may be local or via a network share protocol such as CIFS.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [UNKNOWN] | QEMU: | all versions | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- QEMU: Vendor[UNKNOWN] Affected all versions Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 10
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:qemu:qemu:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | up to 3.1.0 | Vulnerable | QEMU |
| cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 8.0 | Vulnerable | Debian |
| cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 9.0 | Vulnerable | Debian |
| cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:29:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 29 | Vulnerable | Fedoraproject |
| cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:30:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 30 | Vulnerable | Fedoraproject |
| cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:* | 14.04 | Vulnerable | Canonical |
| cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:* | 16.04 | Vulnerable | Canonical |
| cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:* | 18.04 | Vulnerable | Canonical |
| cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 18.10 | Vulnerable | Canonical |
| cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:42.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 42.3 | Vulnerable | openSUSE |
- cpe:2.3:a:qemu:qemu:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions up to 3.1.0 Vulnerable ·QEMU
- cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 8.0 Vulnerable ·Debian
- cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 9.0 Vulnerable ·Debian
- cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:29:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 29 Vulnerable ·Fedoraproject
- cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:30:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 30 Vulnerable ·Fedoraproject
- cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:* Versions 14.04 Vulnerable ·Canonical
- cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:* Versions 16.04 Vulnerable ·Canonical
- cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:* Versions 18.04 Vulnerable ·Canonical
- cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 18.10 Vulnerable ·Canonical
- cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:42.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 42.3 Vulnerable ·openSUSE
Remediation
No fixed version listed by the sources yet.
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
Not affected: 10 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat OpenStack Platform 10 (Newton)
- Red Hat OpenStack Platform 12 (Pike)
- Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13 (Queens)
- Red Hat OpenStack Platform 14 (Rocky)
- Red Hat OpenStack Platform 8 (Liberty)
- Red Hat OpenStack Platform 9 (Mitaka)
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2018-16872
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-w3c5-x9c8-47hc
References
Sources
- CVE-2018-16872 · CVE Program
- CVE-2018-16872 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-w3c5-x9c8-47hc · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2018-16872 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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