Code Injection in needrestart - CVE-2024-48990

Vulnerability identifier: #VU100982

CSH Severity: Low

CVSS v4: 8.5 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]

CVE-ID: CVE-2024-48990

CWE-ID: CWE-94

Exploitation vector: Local access

Exploit availability: The vulnerability is being exploited in the wild

The vulnerability allows a local user to escalate privileges on the system.

The vulnerability exists due to insecure handling of environment variables. A local user can trick the application into running the Python interpreter with an attacker-controlled PYTHONPATH environment variable and execute arbitrary code on the system as root.

needrestart
Debian Linux
Gentoo Linux
Fedora
Ubuntu
libmodule-scandeps-perl (Ubuntu package)
needrestart (Ubuntu package)
needrestart
app-admin/needrestart
needrestart (Debian package)
OpenManage Network Integration (OMNI)

Install updates from vendor's website.

needrestart - update to 3.8
libmodule-scandeps-perl (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 1.20-1ubuntu0.1~esm1, 1.24-1ubuntu0.1~esm1, 1.27-1ubuntu0.1~esm1, 1.31-1ubuntu0.1, 1.35-1ubuntu0.24.04.1, 1.35-1ubuntu0.24.10.1
needrestart (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions Ubuntu Pro, 2.6-1ubuntu0.1~esm1, 3.1-1ubuntu0.1+esm1, 3.4-6ubuntu0.1+esm1, 3.5-5ubuntu2.2, 3.5-5ubuntu2.3, 3.5-5ubuntu2.4, 3.6-7ubuntu4.3, 3.6-7ubuntu4.4, 3.6-7ubuntu4.5, 3.6-8ubuntu4.2, 3.6-8ubuntu4.3, 3.6-8ubuntu4.4
needrestart - addressed in versions 3.8-1.el8, 3.8-1.el9, 3.8-1.fc39, 3.8-1.fc40, 3.8-1.fc41
OpenManage Network Integration (OMNI) - update to 3.7
app-admin/needrestart - update to 3.8
needrestart (Debian package) - update to 3.6-4+deb12u2

• Exploit #12247 - needrestart-privesc-cve-2024-48990 (Local privilege escalation exploit for needrestart (CVE-2024-48990)) (January 4, 2026)
• Exploit #12057 - CVE-2024-48990-Automatic-Exploit (October 31, 2025)
• Exploit #11048 - Ubuntu needrestart Privilege Escalation (January 10, 2025)
• Exploit #10929 - exploits-poc (This repository contains PoC exploits we developed for internal research or red team exercises.) (November 29, 2024)
• Exploit #10922 - CVE-2024-48990-exploit (Needrestart, prior to version 3.8, contains a vulnerability that allows local attackers to execute arbitrary code with root privileges. This is achieved by manipulating the PYTHONPATH environment variable to trick needrestart into (November 29, 2024)
• Exploit #10914 - CVE-2024-48990 (November 29, 2024)

• https://github.com/liske/needrestart/commit/fcc9a4401392231bef4ef5ed026a0d7a275149ab
• https://www.qualys.com/2024/11/19/needrestart/needrestart.txt

• Multiple privilege escalation vulnerabilities in needrestart
• Debian update for needrestart
• Ubuntu update for needrestart
• Fedora EPEL 9 update for needrestart
• Fedora EPEL 8 update for needrestart
• Fedora 40 update for needrestart
• Fedora 41 update for needrestart
• Fedora 39 update for needrestart
• Ubuntu update for needrestart
• Multiple vulnerabilities in Dell OpenManage Network Integration (OMNI)
• Gentoo update for needrestart
• Ubuntu update for libmodule-scandeps-perl, needrestart