# CVE-2017-10140: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can gain privileges by exploiting undocumented Berkeley DB functionality in Postfix via DB_CONFIG files.

- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 16 Apr 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** CVE-2017-13826, DEBIAN-CVE-2017-10140, DLA-1135-1, DLA-1136-1, DLA-1137-1, GHSA-698c-frxg-8qf9, MGASA-2017-0380, UBUNTU-CVE-2017-10140, USN-3489-1

## What is CVE-2017-10140?

CVE-2017-10140 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 16 Apr 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Postfix before 2.11.10, 3.0.x before 3.0.10, 3.1.x before 3.1.6, and 3.2.x before 3.2.2 might allow local users to gain privileges by leveraging undocumented functionality in Berkeley DB 2.x and later, related to reading settings from DB_CONFIG in the current directory.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-10140?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Postfix Postfix.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-10140?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2017-10140 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-10140 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2009-2939](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-2939/): Path traversal in n/a (medium 6.9)
- [CVE-2008-4977](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-4977/): Path traversal in n/a (medium 6.9)
- [CVE-2011-1720](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-1720/): Memory corruption in n/a (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2011-0411](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-0411/): Security feature bypass in n/a (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2012-0811](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-0811/): SQL injection in n/a (medium 6.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-10140 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-10140 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 16 Apr 2018. 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-2017-10140 in the wild and no public exploit code.

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-2017-10140/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-10140/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-10140
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-10140
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-10140

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-10140/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.