# CVE-2000-0172: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can exploit improper privilege dropping in mtr to gain root privileges on affected systems.

- **Severity:** High 7.2 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 10 Apr 2000
- **Updated:** 8 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-p5c2-j3x2-m9jw

## What is CVE-2000-0172?

CVE-2000-0172 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 10 Apr 2000. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The mtr program only uses a seteuid call when attempting to drop privileges, which could allow local users to gain root privileges.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2000-0172?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Matt Kimball and Roger Wolff Mtr, Turbolinux Turbolinux.

## How do I fix CVE-2000-0172?

No fix has been published for CVE-2000-0172 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2000-0172 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2000-0172 exists.

Public exploit code:

- Matt Kimball and Roger Wolff mtr 0.28/0.41 / Turbolinux 3.5 b2/4.2/4.4/6.0 - mtr (2) (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2008-2357](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-2357/): Memory corruption in n/a (medium 6.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2000-0172 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2000-0172 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 10 Apr 2000. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2000-0172 exists.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2000-0172/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2000-0172/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2000-0172
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2000-0172
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2000-0172

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2000-0172/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.