CVE-2025-32463Known exploitationPublic exploit

Root command execution via chrooted NSS loading

Published Jun 30, 2025 · Updated Feb 26, 2026

Local privilege escalation in Sudo Project sudo 1.9.14 through 1.9.17 allows local users to execute arbitrary commands as root. During sudoers policy evaluation, the -R option changes root before NSS lookups, causing sudo to trust a user-created /etc/nsswitch.conf and load an attacker-selected shared library. Any local user can supply the chroot directory on systems with /etc/nsswitch.conf, even without sudoers authorization, yielding unrestricted root command execution.

CVSS severity9.3
Critical
EPSS probability59.42%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationReported
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

Local privilege escalation in Sudo Project sudo 1.9.14 through 1.9.17 allows local users to execute arbitrary commands as root. During sudoers policy evaluation, the -R option changes root before NSS lookups, causing sudo to trust a user-created /etc/nsswitch.conf and load an attacker-selected shared library. Any local user can supply the chroot directory on systems with /etc/nsswitch.conf, even without sudoers authorization, yielding unrestricted root command execution.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-32463
Published
Jun 30, 2025
Updated
Feb 26, 2026
Vendor
Sudo Project
Product
sudo
Classifications
CWE-829, T1548.003
Attack vector
local
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jun 30, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Feb 26, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

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

  1. Affected versionversion=1.9.14 <1.9.17p1

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Sudo Project · sudoversion=1.9.14 <1.9.17p1

Published CVSS scores

7.8NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
7.8SUSECVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
9.3MITRECVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/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.

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

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 exploitationReported
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-829Inclusion of Functionality from Untrusted Control Sphere
T1548.003Sudo and Sudo Caching

Public exploit references

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

Reported exploitation

Technologies

Your stack

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

Check the software in your environment

Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.

Book a demo