{"cve":"CVE-2018-12029","nvd":{"published":"2018-06-17T20:29:00.493","modified":"2026-06-17T01:37:01.963","status":"Modified","description":"A race condition in the nginx module in Phusion Passenger 3.x through 5.x before 5.3.2 allows local escalation of privileges when a non-standard passenger_instance_registry_dir with insufficiently strict permissions is configured. Replacing a file with a symlink after the file was created, but before it was chowned, leads to the target of the link being chowned via the path. Targeting sensitive files such as root's crontab file allows privilege escalation.","cvss_v4":null,"cvss_v3":{"version":"3.0","vector":"CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","score":7.0},"cwes":["CWE-362"],"references":["https://blog.phusion.nl/passenger-5-3-2","https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/06/msg00007.html","https://pulsesecurity.co.nz/advisories/phusion-passenger-priv-esc","https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201807-02","https://blog.phusion.nl/passenger-5-3-2"],"products":["debian:debian_linux","phusion:passenger"],"source":"nvd","synced_at":"2026-10-19T20:51:47.459859389+00:00"},"epss":{"cve":"CVE-2018-12029","score":0.00274,"percentile":0.19814,"date":"2026-10-31"},"kev":null,"osv":[{"id":"GHSA-jjcj-fgfm-9g9r","url":"https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-jjcj-fgfm-9g9r","summary":"Phusion Passenger Race Condition Allows Privilege Escalation","modified":"2024-02-20T05:28:37.711015Z","packages":[{"ecosystem":"RubyGems","name":"passenger","purl":"pkg:gem/passenger","ranges":[">=3.0.0 <5.3.2"],"fixed":["5.3.2"]}]}],"attribution":["This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.","EPSS scores: FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System, https://www.first.org/epss","Known exploited vulnerabilities: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog","Package advisories: OSV (https://osv.dev), from the GitHub Advisory Database, PyPA, Go, RustSec and other ecosystem databases, under CC-BY 4.0 or CC0","CVE records: the CVE Program's CVE List (https://www.cve.org), under its terms of use (https://www.cve.org/Legal/TermsOfUse). CVE is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation; this product is not affiliated with the CVE Program."]}