CVE-2010-3856 Privilege escalation in n/a

High 7.2 Published 7 Jan 2011 Updated 13 Feb 2025

Local attackers can gain privileges by exploiting improper LD_AUDIT restrictions in the GNU C Library via unsafe dynamic shared objects.

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

What is CVE-2010-3856?

CVE-2010-3856 is a high-severity vulnerability in Gnu Glibc, published on 7 Jan 2011. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

ld.so in the GNU C Library (aka glibc or libc6) before 2.11.3, and 2.12.x before 2.12.2, does not properly restrict use of the LD_AUDIT environment variable to reference dynamic shared objects (DSOs) as audit objects, which allows local users to gain privileges by leveraging an unsafe DSO located in a trusted library directory, as demonstrated by libpcprofile.so.

Weakness: CWE-264

Which versions are affected by CVE-2010-3856?

It affects 1 product.

Linux distribution packages (16)

`glibc` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client	All versions	`0:2.5-49.el5_5.7`
`glibc-common` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client	All versions	`0:2.5-49.el5_5.7`
`glibc-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client	All versions	`0:2.5-49.el5_5.7`
`glibc-debuginfo-common` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client	All versions	`0:2.5-49.el5_5.7`
`glibc-devel` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client	All versions	`0:2.5-49.el5_5.7`
`glibc-headers` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client	All versions	`0:2.5-49.el5_5.7`
`glibc-utils` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client	All versions	`0:2.5-49.el5_5.7`
`nscd` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::client	All versions	`0:2.5-49.el5_5.7`
`glibc` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:2.5-49.el5_5.7`
`glibc-common` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:2.5-49.el5_5.7`
`glibc-debuginfo` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:2.5-49.el5_5.7`
`glibc-debuginfo-common` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:2.5-49.el5_5.7`
`glibc-devel` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:2.5-49.el5_5.7`
`glibc-headers` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:2.5-49.el5_5.7`
`glibc-utils` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:2.5-49.el5_5.7`
`nscd` Red Hat:enterprise_linux:5::server	All versions	`0:2.5-49.el5_5.7`

Products include Gnu Glibc.

How do I fix CVE-2010-3856?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

Is CVE-2010-3856 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2010-3856 exists.

Public exploit code: 1 Metasploit module and 4 Exploit-DB entries.

All Gnu Glibc vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2010-3856, GHSA-87g4-5jq4-wvr2, RHSA-2010:0793.