CVE-2018-1166
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThis vulnerability allows local attackers to escalate privileges on vulnerable installations of Joyent SmartOS release-20170803-20170803T064301Z. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target system in order to exploit this vulnerability. The specific flaw exists within the SMBIOC_TREE_RELE ioctl. The issue results from the lack of validating the existence of an object prior to performing operations on the object. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code under the context of the host OS. Was ZDI-CAN-4984.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceA local privilege escalation vulnerability in Joyent SmartOS (release-20170803) exists in the SMBIOC_TREE_RELE ioctl handler. The flaw lacks proper validation of object existence before performing operations on it, allowing a low-privileged local attacker to execute code with host OS privileges.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 20170803CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify the SmartOS versionRun 'uname -v' or 'uname -a' to confirm the exact SmartOS release versionAffected if The version reported is exactly 20170803 (release-20170803)
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Confirm the operating system is Joyent SmartOSRun 'uname -o' or inspect /etc/os-release if available to verify the OS is SmartOSAffected if The OS is not SmartOS (the vulnerability only affects SmartOS version 20170803)
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Check if SMB/CIFS services are enabledUse the appropriate service management command (such as 'svcs -a' or checking for smbd/ctld processes) to determine if SMB-related services are runningAffected if SMB/CIFS services are active - the vulnerable SMBIOC_TREE_RELE ioctl handler is only exploitable when SMB functionality is loaded
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Audit for suspicious SMB ioctl activityMonitor system logs and examine any custom kernel modules or privilege escalation attempts targeting the SMBIOC_TREE_RELE ioctl numberAffected if Logs show attempts to call SMBIOC_TREE_RELE with invalid object handles, indicating exploitation attempts
A system is affected only if it is running SmartOS version exactly 20170803 with SMB/CIFS functionality enabled, as the privilege escalation requires the vulnerable SMBIOC_TREE_RELE ioctl handler to be loaded and accessible.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpdate SmartOS to a patched release. As a defense-in-depth measure, restrict local code execution capabilities and monitor for attempts to exploit the SMBIOC_TREE_RELE ioctl.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,248.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-1166 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-1166 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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