CVE-2025-4802 Privilege escalation in glibc
High 7.8
Published
Updated
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-4802 and fix it if it is affected.
What it is: CVE-2025-4802 is a high-severity vulnerability in Gnu Glibc, published on 16 May 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-4802 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Affected product: Gnu Glibc. 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-2025-4802/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-4802/index.md)
Attackers can escalate privileges by exploiting untrusted LD_LIBRARY_PATH in statically compiled setuid binaries using glibc.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2025-4802?
CVE-2025-4802 is a high-severity vulnerability in Gnu Glibc, published on 16 May 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Official description
Untrusted LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable vulnerability in the GNU C Library version 2.27 to 2.38 allows attacker controlled loading of dynamically shared library in statically compiled setuid binaries that call dlopen (including internal dlopen calls after setlocale or calls to NSS functions such as getaddrinfo).
Weakness: CWE-426
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-4802?
It affects 1 product.
Linux distribution packages (40)
compat-libpthread-nonshared AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-all-langpacks AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-benchtests AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-common AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-devel AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-doc AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-gconv-extra AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-headers AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-aa AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-af AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-agr AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-ak AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-am AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-an AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-anp AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-ar AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-as AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-ast AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-ayc AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-az AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-be AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-bem AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-ber AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-bg AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-bhb AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-bho AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-bi AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-bn AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-bo AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-br AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-brx AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-bs AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-byn AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-ca AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-ce AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-chr AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-cmn AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-crh AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
glibc-langpack-cs AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 2.28-251.el8_10.22 |
Products include Gnu Glibc.
How do I fix CVE-2025-4802?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2025-4802 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-4802 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Public exploit code: 1 proofs of concept on GitHub.
Other vulnerabilities in Gnu Glibc
Sources
Also known as ALSA-2025:8655, ALSA-2025:8686, AZL-61873, AZL-61877, BELL-CVE-2025-4802, CLSA-2025-1750416241 and 30 more.