Privilege escalation in Ubuntu - CVE-2018-6557

 

Privilege escalation in Ubuntu - CVE-2018-6557

Published: August 21, 2018 / Updated: August 23, 2018


Vulnerability identifier: #VU14514
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-2018-6557
CWE-ID: CWE-264
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability: No public exploit available

Vulnerability details

The vulnerability allows a local attacker to gain elevated privileges on the target system.

The vulnerability exists in the MOTD update script due to improper processing of temporary files. A local attacker can supply specially crafted symbolic links (symlinks) from a temporary file to a critical file on the system to overwrite files with administrator privileges.


Affected software

Ubuntu

How to mitigate CVE-2018-6557

Install update from vendor's website.


External References

Related Security Bulletins