# CVE-2002-1160: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can steal MIT-Magic-Cookies from temporary files to gain root privileges when using the pam_xauth module.

- **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:** 1 Sep 2004
- **Updated:** 8 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-w277-x5vx-mcc9

## What is CVE-2002-1160?

CVE-2002-1160 is a high-severity vulnerability in Redhat Linux, published on 1 Sep 2004. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The default configuration of the pam_xauth module forwards MIT-Magic-Cookies to new X sessions, which could allow local users to gain root privileges by stealing the cookies from a temporary .xauth file, which is created with the original user's credentials after root uses su.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2002-1160?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Redhat Linux.

## How do I fix CVE-2002-1160?

No fix has been published for CVE-2002-1160 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2002-1160 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2002-1160 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Redhat Linux

- [CVE-2000-1220](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2000-1220/): Privilege escalation in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2003-0248](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-0248/): Privilege escalation in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-1999-1542](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-1542/): Command injection in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-1999-1299](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-1299/): Privilege escalation in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2000-0322](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2000-0322/): Command injection in n/a (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2002-1160 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2002-1160 is a high-severity vulnerability in Redhat Linux, published on 1 Sep 2004. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2002-1160 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Redhat Linux. 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-2002-1160/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-1160/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2002-1160
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2002-1160
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2002-1160

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-1160/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.