dbcve.org
TizenOperating system · Linux

CVE-2018-16267

HIGH · 8.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-01-22
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
86/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
The system-popup system service in Tizen allows an unprivileged process to perform popup-related system actions, due to improper D-Bus security policy configurations. Such actions include the triggering system poweroff menu, and prompting a popup with arbitrary strings. This affects Tizen before 5.0 M1, and Tizen-based firmwares including Samsung Galaxy Gear series before build RE2.

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 confidence

The system-popup service in Tizen contains improper D-Bus security policy configurations that allow unprivileged processes to invoke privileged popup operations. An attacker can trigger system power-off menus and display arbitrary popup messages by exploiting these misconfigured D-Bus policies, bypassing the intended privilege separation.

MitigationUpdate to Tizen 5.0 M1 or later, or restrict the system-popup D-Bus policy to deny access from unprivileged processes and enforce proper authentication checks for popup-related system actions.

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
TizenOperating system
Affected:= 1.0= 2.0= 2.1= 2.2= 2.2.1= 2.3= 2.3.1= 2.4= 3.0= 4.0= 5.0

CVSS 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
Adjacent
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Tizen version
    Check the installed Tizen version by examining /etc/os-release or running 'pkg info --all | grep version' to determine if the system falls within the affected range (1.0 through 5.0).
    Affected if The installed Tizen version is 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.2.1, 2.3, 2.3.1, 2.4, 3.0, 4.0, or 5.0.
  2. Locate system-popup D-Bus policy file
    Search for D-Bus policy configuration files related to system-popup, typically found in /etc/dbus-1/system.d/ or /usr/share/dbus-1/system.d/ directories. Look for a file named system-popup.conf or similar.
    Affected if A D-Bus policy file for system-popup exists and is readable on the system.
  3. Inspect system-popup D-Bus policy permissions
    Open the system-popup D-Bus policy file and examine the <policy> sections. Look for <policy> elements with context="default" or unspecified context that grant send or receive permissions to the system-popup service without requiring authentication.
    Affected if The policy contains a <policy> section that allows unprivileged (default or non-privileged user) processes to send method calls to the system-popup service without authentication.
  4. Check for unrestricted popup method access
    Examine the D-Bus policy for allow rules that permit the following popup-related methods without authentication: any system power-off related calls, or any popup display operations. Look for <allow> rules lacking <deny> counterparts or proper authentication requirements.
    Affected if The D-Bus policy grants unprivileged access to invoke system popup operations (such as power-off menus or message display) without requiring privileged authentication.
  5. Verify system-popup service is registered on D-Bus
    Query the D-Bus system bus for the system-popup service registration using 'dbus-send --system --dest=org.freedesktop.DBus --type=method_call --print-reply /org/freedesktop/DBus org.freedesktop.DBus.ListNames' or check if the service is listed in the system's service registry.
    Affected if The system-popup service is registered and active on the D-Bus system bus, making the misconfigured policy exploitable.

A Tizen system is affected if it runs version 5.0 or earlier and has a system-popup D-Bus policy that permits unprivileged processes to invoke privileged popup operations without proper authentication checks.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update to Tizen 5.0 M1 or later, or restrict the system-popup D-Bus policy to deny access from unprivileged processes and enforce proper authentication checks for popup-related system actions.

Fix this in Tizen Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,480
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,968.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-16267 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-16267 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data