CVE-2017-14179 Privilege escalation in Apport

High 7.8 Published 2 Feb 2018 Updated 16 Sep 2024

Local attackers can exploit improper PID namespace handling in Apport to create root-owned files, leading to privilege escalation or denial of service.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2017-14179?

CVE-2017-14179 is a high-severity vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 2 Feb 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

Apport before 2.13 does not properly handle crashes originating from a PID namespace allowing local users to create certain files as root which an attacker could leverage to perform a denial of service via resource exhaustion, possibly gain root privileges, or escape from containers.

Weakness: CWE-400

Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-14179?

It affects 2 products.

Products include Apport Project Apport, Canonical Ubuntu Linux.

How do I fix CVE-2017-14179?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-14179 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Is CVE-2017-14179 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-14179 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Canonical Ubuntu Linux vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as GHSA-6rjw-gqv7-rv3q.