# CVE-2020-10174: Race condition in n/a

> An attacker can exploit a race condition in Timeshift to execute arbitrary scripts with root privileges by manipulating temporary directories.

- **Severity:** High 7.0 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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:** 5 Mar 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2020-10174, GHSA-mw9g-hwpr-h3rv

## What is CVE-2020-10174?

CVE-2020-10174 is a high-severity vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 5 Mar 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

init_tmp in TeeJee.FileSystem.vala in Timeshift before 20.03 unsafely reuses a preexisting temporary directory in the predictable location /tmp/timeshift. It follows symlinks in this location or uses directories owned by unprivileged users. Because Timeshift also executes scripts under this location, an attacker can attempt to win a race condition to replace scripts created by Timeshift with attacker-controlled scripts. Upon success, an attacker-controlled script is executed with full root privileges. This logic is practically always triggered when Timeshift runs regardless of the command-line arguments used.

Weakness: CWE-59 (Improper Link Resolution Before File Access), CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-10174?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Fedoraproject Fedora, Timeshift Project Timeshift.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-10174?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2020-10174 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-10174 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

- [CVE-2020-11651](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11651/): SaltStack Salt Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-7247](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7247/): OpenSMTPD Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-16928](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16928/): Exim Out-of-bounds Write (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-6789](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6789/): Exim Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2015-2590](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2590/): Oracle Java SE and Java SE Embedded Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-10174 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-10174 is a high-severity vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 5 Mar 2020. 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-2020-10174 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Canonical Ubuntu Linux. 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-2020-10174/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10174/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-10174
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-10174
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-10174

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10174/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.