CVE-2009-4146 Privilege escalation in n/a

High 7.2 Published 2 Dec 2009 Updated 7 Aug 2024

Local attackers can gain privileges by exploiting a failure to clear LD_PRELOAD in the FreeBSD runtime linker when executing setuid programs.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2009-4146?

CVE-2009-4146 is a high-severity vulnerability in Freebsd Freebsd, published on 2 Dec 2009. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

The _rtld function in the Run-Time Link-Editor (rtld) in libexec/rtld-elf/rtld.c in FreeBSD 7.1, 7.2, and 8.0 does not clear the LD_PRELOAD environment variable, which allows local users to gain privileges by executing a setuid or setguid program with a modified LD_PRELOAD variable containing an untrusted search path that points to a Trojan horse library, a different vector than CVE-2009-4147.

Weakness: CWE-264

Which versions are affected by CVE-2009-4146?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Freebsd Freebsd.

How do I fix CVE-2009-4146?

No fix has been published for CVE-2009-4146 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Is CVE-2009-4146 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2009-4146 exists.

Public exploit code: 1 Metasploit module and 1 Exploit-DB entry.

All Freebsd Freebsd vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as GHSA-q9qx-32qq-p7r3.