CVE-2018-12026
Phusion Passenger SpawningKit Contains Arbitrary Read/Write Vulnerability
During the spawning of a malicious Passenger-managed application, SpawningKit in Phusion Passenger 5.3.x before 5.3.2 allows such applications to replace key files or directories in the spawning communication directory with symlinks. This then could result in arbitrary reads and writes, which in turn can result in information disclosure and privilege escalation.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
9.8
During the spawning of a malicious Passenger-managed application, SpawningKit in Phusion Passenger 5.3.x before 5.3.2 allows such applications to replace key files or directories in the spawning communication directory with symlinks. This then could result in arbitrary reads and writes, which in turn can result in information disclosure and privilege escalation.
- Record
CVE-2018-12026- CVSS 3.0
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 7.5 High
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P - Weakness
- CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
During the spawning of a malicious Passenger-managed application, SpawningKit in Phusion Passenger 5.3.x before 5.3.2 allows such applications to replace key files or directories in the spawning communication directory with symlinks. This then could result in arbitrary reads and writes, which in turn can result in information disclosure and privilege escalation.
- Record
CVE-2018-12026- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2022-2976 No score
During the spawning of a malicious Passenger-managed application, SpawningKit in Phusion Passenger 5.3.x before 5.3.2 allows such applications to replace key files or directories in the spawning communication directory with symlinks. This then could result in arbitrary reads and writes, which in turn can result in information disclosure and privilege escalation.
- Record
EUVD-2022-2976- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-7cv3-gvmc-8mq5
9.8
Phusion Passenger SpawningKit Contains Arbitrary Read/Write Vulnerability
During the spawning of a malicious Passenger-managed application, SpawningKit in Phusion Passenger 5.3.x before 5.3.2 allows such applications to replace key files or directories in the spawning communication directory with symlinks. This then could result in arbitrary reads and writes, which in turn can result in information disclosure and privilege escalation.
- Record
GHSA-7cv3-gvmc-8mq5- CVSS 3.0
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
9.8
During the spawning of a malicious Passenger-managed application, SpawningKit in Phusion Passenger 5.3.x before 5.3.2 allows such applications to replace key files or directories in the spawning communication directory with symlinks. This then could result in arbitrary reads and writes, which in turn can result in information disclosure and privilege escalation.
- Record
CVE-2018-12026- CVSS 3.0
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-7cv3-gvmc-8mq5
9.8
Phusion Passenger SpawningKit Contains Arbitrary Read/Write Vulnerability
During the spawning of a malicious Passenger-managed application, SpawningKit in Phusion Passenger 5.3.x before 5.3.2 allows such applications to replace key files or directories in the spawning communication directory with symlinks. This then could result in arbitrary reads and writes, which in turn can result in information disclosure and privilege escalation.
- Record
GHSA-7cv3-gvmc-8mq5- CVSS 3.0
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2018-12026
9.8
During the spawning of a malicious Passenger-managed application, SpawningKit in Phusion Passenger 5.3.x before 5.3.2 allows such applications to replace key files or directories in the spawning communication directory with symlinks. This then could result in arbitrary reads and writes, which in turn can result in information disclosure and privilege escalation.
- Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2018-12026- CVSS 3.0
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2024:11341-1 No score
ruby2.7-rubygem-passenger-6.0.8-3.2 on GA media
These are all security issues fixed in the ruby2.7-rubygem-passenger-6.0.8-3.2 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2024:11341-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| facts | ||
| affected | ||
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2018-12026 is a critical vulnerability (CVSS 9.8) in Phusion Passenger, published June 17, 2018. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.92%, the 80th percentile. Fixed in passenger 5.3.2.
References
blog.phusion.nl/passenger-5-3-2
security.gentoo.org/glsa/201807-02
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-12026
blog.phusion.nl/2018/06/12/passenger-5-3-2-various-security-fixes
github.com/rubysec/ruby-advisory-db/blob/master/gems/passenger/CVE-2018-12026.yml
github.com/phusion/passenger/commit/fd3717a3cd357aa0e80e1e81d4dc94a1eaf928f1
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github.com/advisories/GHSA-7cv3-gvmc-8mq5
github.com/phusion/passenger
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-12026
cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-12026
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2013-2119
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2013-4547
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2014-1831
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2014-1832
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-7519
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-1247
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-7529
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-12026
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-12029