Root access via privileged pager shell escape
Published Apr 13, 2023 · Updated Feb 7, 2025
Privilege escalation in Canonical Apport 2.26.0 and earlier allows local users to obtain root access through apport-cli report viewing. When apport-cli runs through sudo or pkexec, its view action launches /usr/bin/sensible-pager without dropping elevated privileges, so less shell escapes execute as root. Exploitation requires a specially configured sudo rule permitting an unprivileged user to run apport-cli, less as the pager, a controllable terminal size, and a viewable crash report.
Summary
What happened
Privilege escalation in Canonical Apport 2.26.0 and earlier allows local users to obtain root access through apport-cli report viewing. When apport-cli runs through sudo or pkexec, its view action launches /usr/bin/sensible-pager without dropping elevated privileges, so less shell escapes execute as root. Exploitation requires a specially configured sudo rule permitting an unprivileged user to run apport-cli, less as the pager, a controllable terminal size, and a viewable crash report.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-1326
- Published
- Apr 13, 2023
- Updated
- Feb 7, 2025
- Vendor
- Canonical
- Product
- Apport
- Classifications
- CWE-269, CAPEC-233, T1548.003
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Apr 13, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 7, 2025Record 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.
- Affected versionversion=0 <=2.26.0
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Canonical apport-cli pager shell proof of conceptproof of concept · demonstrated
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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