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Improper Privilege Management

CVE-2017-20002

High
7.8/10

Summary

The Debian shadow package before 1:4.5-1 for Shadow incorrectly lists pts/0 and pts/1 as physical terminals in /etc/securetty. This allows local users to login as password-less users even if they are connected by non-physical means such as SSH (hence bypassing PAM's nullok_secure configuration). This notably affects environments such as virtual machines automatically generated with a default blank root password, allowing all local users to escalate privileges.

  • LOW
  • LOCAL
  • HIGH
  • UNCHANGED
  • NONE
  • LOW
  • HIGH
  • HIGH

CWE-269 - Improper Privilege Management

An effective privilege management infrastructure provides valid users with required access and privileges across heterogeneous technology environments. An application with a faulty privilege management infrastructure allows higher than authorized privileges or enables privilege escalation. This can lead to security incidents such as system infiltration, data breach, and complete system takeover.

References

Advisory Timeline

  • Published