CVE-2021-20001 Privilege escalation in debian-edu-config

What is CVE-2021-20001?

CVE-2021-20001 is a critical vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 11 Feb 2022. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

It was discovered, that debian-edu-config, a set of configuration files used for the Debian Edu blend, before 2.12.16 configured insecure permissions for the user web shares (~/public_html), which could result in privilege escalation.

Weakness: CWE-276

Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-20001?

It affects 2 products.

Products include Debian Debian Linux, Skolelinux Debian-Edu-Config.

How do I fix CVE-2021-20001?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2021-20001 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-20001 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

• CVE-2015-3306 ProFTPD Improper Access Control Exploited Critical 10.0
• CVE-2025-49113 RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data Exploited Critical 9.9
• CVE-2026-24061 GNU InetUtils Argument Injection Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2025-39682 Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2024-9680 Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free Exploited Critical 9.8

All Debian Debian Linux vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2021-20001, DLA-2918-1, DSA-5072-1, GHSA-jxq6-5qhp-mg2v.