CVE-2018-7169

CVE-2018-7169 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Shadow Project Shadow with a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.3. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-732.

Key facts

Description

An issue was discovered in shadow 4.5. newgidmap (in shadow-utils) is setuid and allows an unprivileged user to be placed in a user namespace where setgroups(2) is permitted. This allows an attacker to remove themselves from a supplementary group, which may allow access to certain filesystem paths if the administrator has used "group blacklisting" (e.g., chmod g-rwx) to restrict access to paths. This flaw effectively reverts a security feature in the kernel (in particular, the /proc/self/setgroups knob) to prevent this sort of privilege escalation.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-7169?
An issue was discovered in shadow 4.5. newgidmap (in shadow-utils) is setuid and allows an unprivileged user to be placed in a user namespace where setgroups(2) is permitted. This allows an attacker to remove themselves from a supplementary group, which may allow access to certain filesystem paths if the administrator has used "group blacklisting" (e.g., chmod g-rwx) to restrict access to paths. This flaw effectively reverts a security feature in the kernel (in particular, the /proc/self/setgroups knob) to prevent this sort of privilege escalation.
How severe is CVE-2018-7169?
CVE-2018-7169 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.3, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is low, integrity none, and availability none.
Is CVE-2018-7169 being actively exploited?
It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 2% (73rd percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2018-7169?
CVE-2018-7169 affects Shadow Project Shadow. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.
How do I fix CVE-2018-7169?
Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.
When was CVE-2018-7169 published?
CVE-2018-7169 was published on 2018-02-15 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (1)

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