Privilege escalation in libXfont - CVE-2017-16611

 

Privilege escalation in libXfont - CVE-2017-16611

Published: December 4, 2017


Vulnerability identifier: #VU9524
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4.0: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Clear
CVE-ID: CVE-2017-16611
CWE-ID: CWE-264
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability: No public exploit available
Vendor: X.org
Affected software:
libXfont

Detailed vulnerability description

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

The weakness exists due to improper privileges control. A local attacker can open (but not read) files on the system as root, triggering tape rewinds, watchdogs, or similar mechanisms that can be triggered by opening files.

How to mitigate CVE-2017-16611

Update to version 1.5.4 or 2.0.3.

Sources