CVE-2020-8933Public exploit

Root escalation via default LXD group membership

Published Jun 22, 2020 · Updated Aug 4, 2024

Privilege escalation in Google guest-oslogin before 20200507 allows local users with OS Login access to gain root via LXD membership. The google_oslogin_control script adds every SSH OS Login user to a default group list containing lxd, granting access to LXD device and mount controls. Exploitation requires OS Login to be enabled and the roles/compute.osLogin permission; an LXC container can then attach the host filesystem and rewrite /etc/sudoers.

CVSS severity9.3
Critical
EPSS probability0.35%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Privilege escalation in Google guest-oslogin before 20200507 allows local users with OS Login access to gain root via LXD membership. The google_oslogin_control script adds every SSH OS Login user to a default group list containing lxd, granting access to LXD device and mount controls. Exploitation requires OS Login to be enabled and the roles/compute.osLogin permission; an LXC container can then attach the host filesystem and rewrite /etc/sudoers.

The record

CVE
CVE-2020-8933
Published
Jun 22, 2020
Updated
Aug 4, 2024
Vendor
Google
Product
OS Login Guest Environment
Classifications
CWE-276, T1548.003, T1611
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jun 22, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 4, 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?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=20190304 <20200507

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Google · OS Login Guest Environmentversion=20190304 <20200507
Google · Google OS Login Guest Environmentversion=20190304.00 <20200507

Published CVSS scores

9.3Google Inc.CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H
7.8NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
6.9NIST NVDAV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

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 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-276Incorrect Default Permissions
T1548.003Sudo and Sudo Caching
T1611Escape to Host

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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