# CVE-2020-24046: Privilege escalation in n/a

> An authenticated attacker can escalate privileges to root by modifying the admin user's shell and UID via the backup import feature.

- **Severity:** High 7.2 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 17 Sep 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-m5r6-8jfm-hp4w

## What is CVE-2020-24046?

CVE-2020-24046 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 17 Sep 2020. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A sandbox escape issue was discovered in TitanHQ SpamTitan Gateway 7.07. It limits the admin user to a restricted shell, allowing execution of a small number of tools of the operating system. This restricted shell can be bypassed after changing the properties of the user admin in the operating system file /etc/passwd. This file cannot be accessed though the restricted shell, but it can be modified by abusing the Backup/Import Backup functionality of the web interface. An authenticated attacker would be able to obtain the file /var/tmp/admin.passwd after executing a Backup operation. This file can be manually modified to change the GUID of the user to 0 (root) and change the restricted shell to a normal shell /bin/sh. After the modification is done, the file can be recompressed to a .tar.bz file and imported again via the Import Backup functionality. The properties of the admin user will be overwritten and a root shell will be granted to the user upon the next successful login.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-24046?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Titanhq Spamtitan.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-24046?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-24046 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-24046 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-24046 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2020-11698](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11698/): Command injection in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2020-11699](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11699/): Command injection in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2020-11803](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11803/): Code injection in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2020-11804](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11804/): Code injection in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2019-6800](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-6800/): Command injection in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-24046 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-24046 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 17 Sep 2020. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-24046 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-2020-24046/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-24046/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-24046
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-24046
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-24046

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-24046/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.