# CVE-2016-7488: Privilege escalation in Virtual Machine Community Edition

> Local attackers can exploit insecure file permissions to modify system files and execute arbitrary commands with root privileges.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **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:** No
- **Published:** 10 Nov 2016
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-h3h4-fqjq-h928

## What is CVE-2016-7488?

CVE-2016-7488 is a high-severity vulnerability in Teradata Virtual Machine Community Edition, published on 10 Nov 2016. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Teradata Virtual Machine Community Edition v15.10 has insecure file permissions on /etc/luminex/pkgmgr. These could allow a local user to modify its contents and execute commands as root.

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-7488?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Teradata Virtual Machine.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-7488?

No fix has been published for CVE-2016-7488 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2016-7488 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-7488 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Teradata Virtual Machine Community Edition

- [CVE-2016-7489](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-7489/): Other in Virtual Machine Community Edition (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-7488 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-7488 is a high-severity vulnerability in Teradata Virtual Machine Community Edition, published on 10 Nov 2016. 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-2016-7488 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Teradata Virtual Machine Community Edition. 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-2016-7488/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-7488/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-7488
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-7488
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-7488

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-7488/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.