# CVE-2018-25078: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers with access to the man user account can gain root privileges due to improper file ownership of the mandb executable.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/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:** 25 Jan 2023
- **Updated:** 2 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-h23x-f4p5-92c3

## What is CVE-2018-25078?

CVE-2018-25078 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 25 Jan 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

man-db before 2.8.5 on Gentoo allows local users (with access to the man user account) to gain root privileges because /usr/bin/mandb is executed by root but not owned by root. (Also, the owner can strip the setuid and setgid bits.)

Weakness: CWE-250 (Execution with Unnecessary Privileges)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-25078?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Man-Db Project Man-Db.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-25078?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-25078 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-25078 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2018-25078 exists.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2015-1336](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1336/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-25078 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-25078 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 25 Jan 2023. 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-2018-25078 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-2018-25078/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-25078/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-25078
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-25078
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-25078

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-25078/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.