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AixOperating system · Ibm

CVE-2018-1655

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-06-22
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
IBM AIX 5.3, 6.1, 7.1, and 7.2 contains a vulnerability in the rmsock command that may be used to expose kernel memory. IBM X-Force ID: 144748.

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 rmsock command in IBM AIX 5.3, 6.1, 7.1, and 7.2 contains a vulnerability that allows an attacker to expose kernel memory. This is an information disclosure vulnerability with CVSS 5.5 (Medium), rated as having low confidentiality impact but low attack complexity.

MitigationApply the IBM AIX patch for this vulnerability when available from IBM, or implement access controls to restrict usage of the rmsock command to authorized administrators only.

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
AixOperating system
Affected:= 5.3= 6.1= 7.1= 7.2

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

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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. Determine AIX version
    Run 'oslevel -s' or 'bootinfo -v' to identify the installed AIX version
    Affected if The version is 5.3, 6.1, 7.1, or 7.2
  2. Verify rmsock command exists
    Run 'which rmsock' or 'ls -l /usr/sbin/rmsock' to locate the rmsock binary
    Affected if The rmsock command is present on the system
  3. Check rmsock file permissions
    Run 'ls -la /usr/sbin/rmsock' to view owner, group, and world execute permissions
    Affected if The file is executable by non-privileged users (world-readable or in a group accessible to non-admin users)
  4. Test rmsock execution access
    Attempt to run 'rmsock -h' or 'rmsock <socket> -t <type>' as a non-root user to confirm exploitability
    Affected if Non-privileged users can execute rmsock and access kernel socket information

A system is affected if it runs AIX 5.3, 6.1, 7.1, or 7.2 and the rmsock command is accessible to non-privileged users.

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

Apply the IBM AIX patch for this vulnerability when available from IBM, or implement access controls to restrict usage of the rmsock command to authorized administrators only.

Fix this in Aix Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,330
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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-2018-1655 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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