Root privilege escalation via unsafe absolute paths
Published Jun 17, 2025 · Updated Aug 25, 2026
Path traversal in Linux-PAM pam_namespace before 1.7.1 allows local users to gain root privileges through symlink races. During directory polyinstantiation, some privileged operations use absolute user-controlled paths and rely on bind mounts that do not protect those paths across mount namespaces. Exploitation requires pam_namespace to process a user-controlled polydir or instance path and the attacker to alter it from outside the affected PAM session's mount namespace.
Summary
What happened
Path traversal in Linux-PAM pam_namespace before 1.7.1 allows local users to gain root privileges through symlink races. During directory polyinstantiation, some privileged operations use absolute user-controlled paths and rely on bind mounts that do not protect those paths across mount namespaces. Exploitation requires pam_namespace to process a user-controlled polydir or instance path and the attacker to alter it from outside the affected PAM session's mount namespace.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-6020
- Published
- Jun 17, 2025
- Updated
- Aug 25, 2026
- Vendor
- Siemens
- Product
- RUGGEDCOM ROX RX1500
- Classifications
- CWE-22, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jun 17, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 25, 2026Record 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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- Affected versionversion=0 <V2.17.1
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
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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