CVE-2011-2187 Auth bypass in xscreensaver

What is CVE-2011-2187?

CVE-2011-2187 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 27 Nov 2019. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

xscreensaver before 5.14 crashes during activation and leaves the screen unlocked when in Blank Only Mode and when DPMS is disabled, which allows local attackers to access resources without authentication.

Weakness: CWE-306

Which versions are affected by CVE-2011-2187?

It affects 2 products.

Products include Debian Debian Linux, Xscreensaver Project Xscreensaver.

How do I fix CVE-2011-2187?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

Upgrade, and rotate credentials and sessions that may have been exposed. More about Authentication bypass.

Is CVE-2011-2187 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2011-2187 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

• CVE-2015-3306 ProFTPD Improper Access Control Exploited Critical 10.0
• CVE-2025-49113 RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data Exploited Critical 9.9
• CVE-2026-24061 GNU InetUtils Argument Injection Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2025-39682 Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2024-9680 Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free Exploited Critical 9.8

All Debian Debian Linux vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2011-2187, GHSA-p786-96f8-68ff.