CVE-2023-5182

Privilege escalation via exposed installer password hash

Published Oct 6, 2023 · Updated Sep 19, 2024

Information disclosure in Canonical Subiquity 23.09.1 and earlier allows local users to read password hashes from installer logs. During installation, server/controllers/install.py writes autoinstall-user-data containing a sudo user's password hash with 0640 root:adm permissions, making it readable to adm-group users. The adm-group prerequisite limits reachability; recovered hashes enable privilege escalation beyond the installer account.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.21%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Information disclosure in Canonical Subiquity 23.09.1 and earlier allows local users to read password hashes from installer logs. During installation, server/controllers/install.py writes autoinstall-user-data containing a sudo user's password hash with 0640 root:adm permissions, making it readable to adm-group users. The adm-group prerequisite limits reachability; recovered hashes enable privilege escalation beyond the installer account.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-5182
Published
Oct 6, 2023
Updated
Sep 19, 2024
Vendor
Canonical
Product
Subiquity
Classifications
CWE-532, T1552.001
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Oct 6, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 19, 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=0 <=23.09.1

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Canonical · Subiquityversion=0 <=23.09.1

Published CVSS scores

5.5Canonical Ltd.CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

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 exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-532Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File
T1552.001Unsecured Credentials: Credentials In Files

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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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