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Linux kernelExploited incident

Linux kernel create_elf_tables() integer overflow, 'Mutagen Astronomy' (CVE-2018-14634)

CVE-2018-14634High, CVSS 7.8In CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog since 26 Jan 2026

  • Exploited after a fix existed
FixedFixed for every supported version 7.4 days after the first public report.

Response

Silence
not dated
First public report to first vendor statement
Exposure
0h
First public report to first fix
Follow-through
7.4d
First public report to a fix for every supported version
  • Vendor silent
  • Vendor statement, no fix
  • Fixed for some versions
  • Fixed when disclosed
  • Date only, no time of day

Timeline and evidence

Open a moment to see its source and archived quote.

  1. First public report

    Qualys Security Advisory on oss-security: Integer overflow in Linux's create_elf_tables() (CVE-2018-14634)CuratedQuote verified

    Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2018 10:07:53 -0700

    Qualys: 'Only kernels with commit b6a2fea39318 ... but without commit da029c11e6b1 ("exec: Limit arg stack to at most 75% of _STK_LIM", from July 7, 2017) are exploitable.' Upstream had fixed it 14 months earlier without labelling it a vulnerability; RHEL/CentOS and Debian 8 kernels had not backported the fix.

    Recorded time
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    sha256:d2d41559c3ece21b…
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    5 more sources for this moment
    CVE.org record CVE-2018-14634ClaimedQuote verified25 Sep 2018, 21:00 UTC

    An integer overflow flaw was found in the Linux kernel's create_elf_tables() function. An unprivileged local user with access to SUID (or otherwise privileged) binary could use this flaw to escalate

    CVE record published.

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    CVE-2018-14634 record (CNA: redhat)CuratedQuote verified25 Sep 2018, 21:00 UTC

    "datePublished":"2018-09-25T21:00:00.000Z"

    Red Hat CNA record, same day as the Qualys advisory.

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    Hacker NewsClaimedQuote not checked yet26 Sep 2018, 11:43 UTC

    CVE-2018-14634: Linux Mutagen Astronomy Bug Affects RHEL, Cent OS Distros

    Earliest third-party post we hold.

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    Hacker News hn
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    CISA KEV (CVE-2018-14634)ClaimedQuote verified26 Jan 2026

    Linux Kernel Integer Overflow Vulnerability

    Added to CISA's KEV catalog on 2026-01-26.

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    Bluesky postClaimedQuote not checked yet26 Jan 2026, 21:14 UTC

    CVE-2018-14634 Linux Kernel Integer Overflow Vulnerability

    Earliest third-party post we hold.

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    Bluesky post social
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  2. Vendor statement

    No public statement from the vendor found yet.

  3. First workaround

    No official mitigation found yet.

  4. First fix

    at disclosure

    kernel.org ChangeLog-4.12.3CuratedQuote verified

    Date: Fri Jul 21 06:59:24 2017 +0200

    Top entry of the Linux 4.12.3 ChangeLog is the release commit 'Linux 4.12.3' dated Fri Jul 21 06:59:24 2017 +0200 = 2017-07-21 04:59 UTC (commit author date). First stable release with the fix (stable backports 4.12.3, 4.11.12, 4.9.39, 4.4.78, 3.18.62 on 2017-07-21; mainline 4.13 followed).

    Source
    kernel.org ChangeLog-4.12.3 vendor github
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  5. Fixed for all versions

    +7.4d

    kernel.org ChangeLog-3.16.59CuratedQuote verified

    Date: Wed Oct 3 04:10:10 2018 +0100

    Top entry of the Linux 3.16.59 ChangeLog is the release commit 'Linux 3.16.59' dated Wed Oct 3 04:10:10 2018 +0100 = 2018-10-03 03:10 UTC (commit author date). Last upstream branch fixed: 3.16 (then a supported longterm branch, used by Debian 8) got the fix in 3.16.59 on 2018-10-03, eight days after the public advisory.

    Source
    kernel.org ChangeLog-3.16.59 vendor github
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    Curated. Found by a researcher, with a verbatim quote and link.
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    Found in the archived copy
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    sha256:ba7d8159785a2adc…
    Used in metrics
    Yes
    Dispute this timestamp

Send this to your boss

No brief for this incident yet. We write one for every open incident and every critical bug exploited before a fix.

Affected products

  • Linux kernels with commit b6a2fea39318 but without da029c11e6b1 (64-bit); upstream stable branches before 3.16.59, 3.18.62, 4.1.43, 4.4.78, 4.9.39, 4.11.12, 4.12.3
How we built this timeline

Old bug fixed upstream in 2017, publicly identified as a vulnerability by Qualys on 25 Sep 2018, KEV-listed 26 Jan 2026. Exposure for upstream is zero for all branches except 3.16 (25 Sep 2018 to 3 Oct 2018).

No Vendor statement moment is recorded: before the kernel became a CNA (2024) the upstream kernel published no security advisories, and the fixing releases do not describe the bug as a vulnerability. Fixed-version mapping per branch is from the linuxkernelcves.com dataset (raw.githubusercontent.com/nluedtke/linux_kernel_cves data/stream_fixes.json) and NVD's CPE ranges; release dates are from the kernel.org ChangeLog files (git.kernel.org tag pages were used before the 23 Oct 2026 correction pass; robots.txt blocks them).

No report of exploitation before the fixes. CVSS 7.8 from the Red Hat CNA record.

Related

No related incidents.

Linux kernel report card