# CVE-2004-2012: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can gain root privileges because the systrace utility fails to verify the connection owner before elevating privileges.

- **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 May 2005
- **Updated:** 8 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-hh57-6r48-4q3g

## What is CVE-2004-2012?

CVE-2004-2012 is a high-severity vulnerability in Netbsd Netbsd, published on 10 May 2005. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The systrace_exit function in the systrace utility for NetBSD-current and 2.0 before April 16, 2004, and certain FreeBSD ports, does not verify the owner of the /dec/systrace connection before setting euid to 0, which allows local users to gain root privileges.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2004-2012?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Netbsd Netbsd, Niels Provos Systrace, Vladimir Kotal Systrace Port for Freebsd.

## How do I fix CVE-2004-2012?

No fix has been published for CVE-2004-2012 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2004-2012 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2004-2012 exists.

Public exploit code:

- NetBSD/FreeBSD Port Systrace 1.x - Exit Routine Access Validation Privilege Escalation (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in Netbsd Netbsd

- [CVE-2017-1000374](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-1000374/): Security feature bypass in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-1000375](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-1000375/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-1000378](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-1000378/): Denial of service in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2015-8212](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-8212/): Command injection in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2008-3584](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-3584/): Denial of service in n/a (critical 9.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2004-2012 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2004-2012 is a high-severity vulnerability in Netbsd Netbsd, published on 10 May 2005. 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-2004-2012 exists.

Affected product: Netbsd Netbsd. 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-2004-2012/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-2012/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2004-2012
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2004-2012
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2004-2012

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-2012/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.