Local root escalation via stdin integer overflow
Published May 6, 2021 · Updated Aug 4, 2024
Integer overflow in Exim 4 before 4.94.2 allows local users to gain root privileges via crafted backslash-terminated stdin lines. get_stdinput appends each continued line to a growable string without bounding its size; repeated input drives the size negative and causes allocation and copy operations to corrupt memory. Exploitation requires local execution and is impractical in the published proof because more than five days of processing were needed to reach the overflow, but successful corruption could provide full root privileges.
Summary
What happened
Integer overflow in Exim 4 before 4.94.2 allows local users to gain root privileges via crafted backslash-terminated stdin lines. get_stdinput appends each continued line to a growable string without bounding its size; repeated input drives the size negative and causes allocation and copy operations to corrupt memory. Exploitation requires local execution and is impractical in the published proof because more than five days of processing were needed to reach the overflow, but successful corruption could provide full root privileges.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2020-28009
- Published
- May 6, 2021
- Updated
- Aug 4, 2024
- Vendor
- Unknown vendor
- Product
- Unknown product
- Classifications
- CWE-190, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 6, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 4, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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What is affected?
Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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