CVE-2024-48990 Code injection in needrestart
Local attackers can execute arbitrary code as root by manipulating the PYTHONPATH environment variable in needrestart.
- 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-2024-48990?
CVE-2024-48990 is a high-severity code injection vulnerability in needrestart, published on 19 Nov 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Qualys discovered that needrestart, before version 3.8, allows local attackers to execute arbitrary code as root by tricking needrestart into running the Python interpreter with an attacker-controlled PYTHONPATH environment variable.
Weakness: CWE-427
Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-48990?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Needrestart Project Needrestart.
How do I fix CVE-2024-48990?
Upgrade to a fixed version.
Upgrade, and never evaluate templates, expressions or code built from user input. More about Code injection.
Is CVE-2024-48990 being exploited?
It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2024-48990 exists.
Public exploit code: 1 Metasploit module and 18 proofs of concept on GitHub.
Other vulnerabilities in needrestart
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2024-48990, GHSA-7c65-3hqv-hvmm, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-48990.