PT-2023-27371 · Gnu+2 · Gnu Inetutils+2

Jeffrey · Published 2023-08-13 · Updated 2025-09-28 · CVE-2023-40303

Positive Technologies (AI Summary)

CVSS v3.1

7.8

High

Base vector

AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Name of the Vulnerable Software and Affected Versions GNU inetutils versions prior to 2.5

Description The issue allows privilege escalation due to unchecked return values of set*id() family functions in ftpd, rcp, rlogin, rsh, rshd, and uucpd. This is relevant if the setuid system call fails when a process is trying to drop privileges before letting an ordinary user control the activities of the process.

Recommendations For GNU inetutils versions prior to 2.5, update to version 2.5 or later to resolve the issue. As a temporary workaround, consider restricting access to the set*id() family functions in the affected services until a patch is available.

Exploit

Fix

Unchecked Return Value

Weakness Enumeration

CWE-252

Related Identifiers

CVE-2023-40303

DLA-3611-1

USN-6304-1

USN-7781-1

Affected Products

Gnu Inetutils

Linuxmint

Ubuntu

References · 29

• 🔥 https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-inetutils/2023-07/msg00000.html · Exploit
• https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-6304-1 · Vendor Advisory
• https://osv.dev/vulnerability/USN-7781-1 · Vendor Advisory
• https://osv.dev/vulnerability/USN-6304-1 · Vendor Advisory
• https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-39028 · Vendor Advisory
• https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-40303 · Vendor Advisory
• https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-0053 · Vendor Advisory
• https://cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-40303 · Security Note
• https://osv.dev/vulnerability/DLA-3611-1 · Vendor Advisory
• https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-7781-1 · Vendor Advisory
• https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-40303 · Vendor Advisory
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-40303 · Security Note
• https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/inetutils.git/commit/?id=e4e65c03f4c11292a3e40ef72ca3f194c8bffdd6 · Patch
• https://osv.dev/vulnerability/DEBIAN-CVE-2023-40303 · Vendor Advisory
• https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-10188 · Vendor Advisory