# CVE-2017-5180: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can escape the Firejail sandbox and gain root privileges by exploiting a symlink vulnerability involving the .Xauthority file.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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:** 9 Feb 2017
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2017-5180, GHSA-j8r6-v8qr-pf69, UBUNTU-CVE-2017-5180

## What is CVE-2017-5180?

CVE-2017-5180 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 9 Feb 2017. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Firejail before 0.9.44.4 and 0.9.38.x LTS before 0.9.38.8 LTS does not consider the .Xauthority case during its attempt to prevent accessing user files with an euid of zero, which allows local users to conduct sandbox-escape attacks via vectors involving a symlink and the --private option.

Weakness: CWE-862 (Missing Authorization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-5180?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Firejail Project Firejail.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-5180?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2017-5180 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-5180 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- Firejail < 0.9.44.4 / < 0.9.38.8 LTS - Local Sandbox Escape (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2017-5206](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-5206/): Security feature bypass in n/a (critical 9.0)
- [CVE-2019-12589](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-12589/): Security feature bypass in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2017-5940](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-5940/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2016-9016](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-9016/): Security feature bypass in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2019-12499](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-12499/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 8.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-5180 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-5180 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 9 Feb 2017. 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-2017-5180 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-2017-5180/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-5180/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-5180
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-5180
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-5180

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-5180/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.