CVE-2023-40303 Privilege escalation in n/a

High 7.8 Published 14 Aug 2023 Updated 2 Aug 2024

Attackers can escalate privileges due to unchecked return values in set*id functions within GNU inetutils network daemons.

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

What is CVE-2023-40303?

CVE-2023-40303 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 14 Aug 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

GNU inetutils before 2.5 may allow privilege escalation because of unchecked return values of set*id() family functions in ftpd, rcp, rlogin, rsh, rshd, and uucpd. This is, for example, relevant if the setuid system call fails when a process is trying to drop privileges before letting an ordinary user control the activities of the process.

Weakness: CWE-252

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-40303?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Gnu Inetutils.

How do I fix CVE-2023-40303?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

Is CVE-2023-40303 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-40303 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2023-40303, GHSA-w2mw-45j6-m2cq, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-40303.