# CVE-2009-0360: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can gain privileges by manipulating environment variables to load a modified Kerberos configuration in setuid applications.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.2 (`AV:L/AC:H/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:** Yes
- **Published:** 13 Feb 2009
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2009-0360, GHSA-56h7-99r3-xgmr

## What is CVE-2009-0360?

CVE-2009-0360 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 13 Feb 2009. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Russ Allbery pam-krb5 before 3.13, when linked against MIT Kerberos, does not properly initialize the Kerberos libraries for setuid use, which allows local users to gain privileges by pointing an environment variable to a modified Kerberos configuration file, and then launching a PAM-based setuid application.

Weakness: CWE-287 (Improper Authentication)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2009-0360?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Eyrie Pam-Krb5.

## How do I fix CVE-2009-0360?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2009-0360 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2009-0360 exists.

Public exploit code:

- pam-krb5 < 3.13 - Local Privilege Escalation (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2009-1384](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-1384/): Information disclosure in n/a (medium 5.0)
- [CVE-2009-0361](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-0361/): Privilege escalation in n/a (medium 4.6)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2009-0360 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2009-0360 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 13 Feb 2009. 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-2009-0360 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-2009-0360/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-0360/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2009-0360
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2009-0360
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2009-0360

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-0360/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.