CVE-2020-4278

Local privilege escalation via weak debug-file permissions

Published Mar 5, 2020 · Updated Sep 16, 2024

IBM Spectrum LSF 9.1/10.1 and 10.2 suites allow local users to escalate privileges through weak permissions when debug settings are enabled. The lsadmin, badmin, egosh, and utmpreg binaries can retain set-user-ID permissions, allowing local users to execute them with elevated rights. Exploitation requires local access and the specific debug configuration; the consequence is privilege escalation with potential confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.

CVSS severity7.8
High
EPSS probability0.27%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

IBM Spectrum LSF 9.1/10.1 and 10.2 suites allow local users to escalate privileges through weak permissions when debug settings are enabled. The lsadmin, badmin, egosh, and utmpreg binaries can retain set-user-ID permissions, allowing local users to execute them with elevated rights. Exploitation requires local access and the specific debug configuration; the consequence is privilege escalation with potential confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.

The record

CVE
CVE-2020-4278
Published
Mar 5, 2020
Updated
Sep 16, 2024
Vendor
IBM
Product
IBM Spectrum Computing Suite for High Performance Analytics
Classifications
CWE-732, T1548.001
Attack vector
local
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Mar 5, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 16, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

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  1. Affected versionversion=10.2

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

IBM · IBM Spectrum Computing Suite for High Performance Analyticsversion=10.2
IBM · IBM Spectrum LSF Suitesversion=10.2
IBM · IBM Spectrum LSFversion=10.1; version=9.1

Published CVSS scores

7.8NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
4.6NVDAV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
7.4IBMCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-732Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource
T1548.001Setuid and Setgid

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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