# CVE-2009-2669: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can exploit environment variable handling in IBM AIX runtime libraries to gain root privileges via setuid programs.

- **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:** 5 Aug 2009
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-wfhq-rjjw-5xwh

## What is CVE-2009-2669?

CVE-2009-2669 is a high-severity vulnerability in Ibm Aix, published on 5 Aug 2009. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A certain debugging component in IBM AIX 5.3 and 6.1 does not properly handle the (1) _LIB_INIT_DBG and (2) _LIB_INIT_DBG_FILE environment variables, which allows local users to gain privileges by leveraging a setuid-root program to create an arbitrary root-owned file with world-writable permissions, related to libC.a (aka the XL C++ runtime library) in AIX 5.3 and libc.a in AIX 6.1.

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2009-2669?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Ibm Aix.

## How do I fix CVE-2009-2669?

No fix has been published for CVE-2009-2669 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2009-2669 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2009-2669 exists.

Public exploit code:

- IBM AIX 5.6/6.1 - '_LIB_INIT_DBG' Arbitrary File Overwrite via Libc Debug (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in Ibm Aix

- [CVE-2025-36250](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-36250/): AIX Code Execution (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2024-56346](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-56346/): IBM AIX command execution (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2010-3187](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-3187/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2009-3699](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-3699/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2009-3517](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-3517/): Auth bypass in n/a (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2009-2669 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2009-2669 is a high-severity vulnerability in Ibm Aix, published on 5 Aug 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-2009-2669 exists.

Affected product: Ibm Aix. 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-2009-2669/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-2669/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2009-2669
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2009-2669
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2009-2669

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-2669/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.