CVE-2011-4125 Privilege escalation in Calibre
Critical 9.8
Published
Updated
Check this codebase for CVE-2011-4125 and fix it if it is affected.
What it is: CVE-2011-4125 is a critical vulnerability in Calibre, published on 27 Oct 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2011-4125 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Affected product: Calibre. 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-2011-4125/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-4125/index.md)
Untrusted search path in Calibre allows unprivileged users to execute arbitrary programs as root, enabling local privilege escalation.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2011-4125?
CVE-2011-4125 is a critical vulnerability in Calibre, published on 27 Oct 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
A untrusted search path issue was found in Calibre at devices/linux_mount_helper.c leading to the ability of unprivileged users to execute any program as root.
Weakness: CWE-426
Which versions are affected by CVE-2011-4125?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Calibre-Ebook Calibre.
How do I fix CVE-2011-4125?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2011-4125 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2011-4125 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Calibre
- CVE-2011-4124 Command injection in Calibre
- CVE-2026-26064 calibre: Path Traversal Vulnerability Enables Arbitrary File Write and Remote Code Execution
- CVE-2026-26065 calibre: Path Traversal can Lead to Arbitrary File Write and Potential Code Execution
- CVE-2026-25635 calibre has a Path Traversal Leading to Arbitrary File Write and Potential Code Execution
- CVE-2026-33206 calibre has a path traversal vulnerability
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2011-4125, GHSA-m2cr-mfg2-6hxg.