# CVE-2008-1946: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can gain privileges of locked or expired accounts via the su command due to improper PAM configuration in GNU coreutils.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.4 (`AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 28 Jul 2008
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2008-1946, GHSA-g5g9-cj86-gxc8, RHSA-2008:0780

## What is CVE-2008-1946?

CVE-2008-1946 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 28 Jul 2008. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The default configuration of su in /etc/pam.d/su in GNU coreutils 5.2.1 allows local users to gain the privileges of a (1) locked or (2) expired account by entering the account name on the command line, related to improper use of the pam_succeed_if.so module.

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2008-1946?

It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `coreutils` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:4::as | All versions | 0:5.2.1-31.8.el4 |
| `coreutils-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:4::as | All versions | 0:5.2.1-31.8.el4 |
| `coreutils` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:4::desktop | All versions | 0:5.2.1-31.8.el4 |
| `coreutils-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:4::desktop | All versions | 0:5.2.1-31.8.el4 |
| `coreutils` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:4::es | All versions | 0:5.2.1-31.8.el4 |
| `coreutils-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:4::es | All versions | 0:5.2.1-31.8.el4 |
| `coreutils` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:4::ws | All versions | 0:5.2.1-31.8.el4 |
| `coreutils-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:4::ws | All versions | 0:5.2.1-31.8.el4 |

Products: Gnu Coreutils.

## How do I fix CVE-2008-1946?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2008-1946 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2008-1946 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2015-4042](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-4042/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2015-4041](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-4041/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2017-18018](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-18018/): Race condition in n/a (high 7.1)
- [CVE-2024-0684](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-0684/): Coreutils: heap overflow in split --line-bytes with very long lines (medium 5.5)
- [CVE-2015-1865](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1865/): Race condition in n/a (medium 5.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2008-1946 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2008-1946 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 28 Jul 2008. 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-2008-1946 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-2008-1946/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-1946/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2008-1946
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2008-1946
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2008-1946

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-1946/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.