# CVE-2015-3245: Denial of service in n/a

> Local attackers can corrupt /etc/passwd causing denial of service by injecting newlines into the GECOS field via chfn.

- **Severity:** Low 2.1 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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:** 11 Aug 2015
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2015-3245, GHSA-q4h8-6f3r-mvww, UBUNTU-CVE-2015-3245

## What is CVE-2015-3245?

CVE-2015-3245 is a low-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 11 Aug 2015. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Incomplete blacklist vulnerability in the chfn function in libuser before 0.56.13-8 and 0.60 before 0.60-7, as used in the userhelper program in the usermode package, allows local users to cause a denial of service (/etc/passwd corruption) via a newline character in the GECOS field.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-3245?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Redhat Libuser.

## How do I fix CVE-2015-3245?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2015-3245 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2015-3245 exists.

Public exploit code:

- Libuser roothelper Privilege Escalation (metasploit)
- Libuser Library - Multiple Vulnerabilities (exploitdb)
- Libuser - 'roothelper' Local Privilege Escalation (Metasploit) (exploitdb)
- Libuser - 'roothelper' Local Privilege Escalation (Metasploit) (exploitdb)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2015-3245 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2015-3245 is a low-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 11 Aug 2015. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2015-3245 exists.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2015-3245/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3245/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-3245
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-3245
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2015-3245

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3245/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.