# CVE-2011-4406: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can escalate privileges and modify arbitrary files due to improper privilege dropping in Ubuntu AccountsService language settings.

- **Severity:** Low 3.6 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:P`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 16 Apr 2014
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2011-4406, GHSA-hg97-5vhj-mp5w

## What is CVE-2011-4406?

CVE-2011-4406 is a low-severity vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 16 Apr 2014. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Ubuntu AccountsService package before 0.6.14-1git1ubuntu1.1 does not properly drop privileges when changing language settings, which allows local users to modify arbitrary files via unspecified vectors.

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2011-4406?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Canonical Accountsservice, Canonical Ubuntu Linux.

## How do I fix CVE-2011-4406?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2011-4406 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2011-4406 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

- [CVE-2023-3297](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-3297/): Use after free in AccountService (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2021-3939](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3939/): Free of static data in accountsservice (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2022-1804](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-1804/): Accountsservice incorrectly drops privileges (medium 5.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2011-4406 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2011-4406 is a low-severity vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 16 Apr 2014. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2011-4406 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Canonical Ubuntu Linux. 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-2011-4406/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-4406/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2011-4406
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2011-4406
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2011-4406

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-4406/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.