CVE-2017-12424
CriticalSummary
In the newusers tool in shadow before version 4.5, there is a possibility to manipulate internal data structures in ways unintended by the authors. Malformed input may lead to crashes (with a buffer overflow or other memory corruption) or other unspecified behaviors.
Risk Assessment
This vulnerability may lead to crossing privilege boundaries in hosting environments where a Control Panel allows unprivileged user accounts to create subaccounts.
Recommendation
It is recommended to upgrade to shadow version 4.5 or later to mitigate this vulnerability and to restrict access to the newusers tool for unprivileged users.
Other vulnerabilities in shadow
See all- CVE-2016-6252High
Integer overflow in shadow 4.2.1 allows local users to gain privileges via crafted input to newuidmap.
- CVE-2023-29383Low
In Shadow 4.13, it is possible to inject control characters into fields provided to the SUID program chfn (change finger). Although it is not possible to exploit this directly (e.g., adding a new user fails because \n is in the block list), it is possible to misrepresent the /etc/passwd file when viewed. Use of \r manipulations and Unicode characters to work around blocking of the ':' character make it possible to give the impression that a new user has been added.
- CVE-2013-4235Medium
shadow: TOCTOU (time-of-check time-of-use) race condition when copying and removing directory trees.
Original NVD description (English source)
In shadow before 4.5, the newusers tool could be made to manipulate internal data structures in ways unintended by the authors. Malformed input may lead to crashes (with a buffer overflow or other memory corruption) or other unspecified behaviors. This crosses a privilege boundary in, for example, certain web-hosting environments in which a Control Panel allows an unprivileged user account to create subaccounts.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS