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.
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.