What is CVE-2017-18208?

CVE-2017-18208 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition (Infinite Loop). CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2018-03-01.

How severe is CVE-2017-18208?

Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.

Vulnerability in Linux Kernel

CVE-2017-18208

The madvise_willneed function in mm/madvise.c in the Linux kernel before 4.14.4 allows local users to cause a denial of service (infinite loop) by triggering use of MADVISE_WILLNEED for a DAX mapping.

Published 2018-03-01 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.005 (38.0th percentile), scored 2026-10-01.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 38th percentile — 38.0% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.005 · newest: 0.005 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Linux Kernel

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-835 — Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition (Infinite Loop)

References

access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3083 (vendor-advisory)
git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/ (Vendor Advisory)
usn.ubuntu.com/3619-2/ (vendor-advisory)
www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/ChangeLog-4.14.4 (Vendor Advisory)
access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:2948 (vendor-advisory)
usn.ubuntu.com/3653-2/ (vendor-advisory)
usn.ubuntu.com/3655-1/ (vendor-advisory)
usn.ubuntu.com/3655-2/ (vendor-advisory)
usn.ubuntu.com/3653-1/ (vendor-advisory)
usn.ubuntu.com/3657-1/ (vendor-advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2017-18208?: CVE-2017-18208 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition (Infinite Loop). CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2018-03-01.
How severe is CVE-2017-18208?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.