# CVE-2006-4246: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Remote attackers can read arbitrary files and escalate privileges by exploiting improper handling of empty shell parameters in Usermin.

- **Severity:** Low 3.6 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 19 Sep 2006
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DSA-1177-1, GHSA-4qxm-xm9h-rhmg

## What is CVE-2006-4246?

CVE-2006-4246 is a low-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 19 Sep 2006. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Usermin before 1.220 (20060629) allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files, possibly related to chfn/save.cgi not properly handling an empty shell parameter, which results in changing root's shell instead of the shell of a specified user.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2006-4246?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Usermin Usermin.

## How do I fix CVE-2006-4246?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2006-4246 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2006-4246 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2005-1177](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2005-1177/): Unknown vulnerability in (1) Webmin and (2) Usermin before 1.200 causes Webmin to change permissions and ownership of configuration files, with unknown impact. (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2005-3042](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2005-3042/): Auth bypass in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2004-1468](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-1468/): Command injection in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2002-0756](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-0756/): Cross-site scripting in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2002-0757](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-0757/): Auth bypass in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2006-4246 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2006-4246 is a low-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 19 Sep 2006. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2006-4246 in the wild and no public exploit code.

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-2006-4246/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2006-4246/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2006-4246
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2006-4246
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2006-4246

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2006-4246/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.