CVE-2023-26604
systemd before 247 does not adequately block local privilege escalation for some Sudo configurations, e.g., plausible sudoers files in…
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- mitre
Description
systemd before 247 does not adequately block local privilege escalation for some Sudo configurations, e.g., plausible sudoers files in which the "systemctl status" command may be executed. Specifically, systemd does not set LESSSECURE to 1, and thus other programs may be launched from the less program. This presents a substantial security risk when running systemctl from Sudo, because less executes as root when the terminal size is too small to show the complete systemctl output.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: a proof of concept is public.
Timeline
ID reserved
By mitre
- 5 days later
· 5 days later
Published
- 4 years later
· 4 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CISA-ADPADP (enrichment) | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 1.1% · top 36% of all CVEs (7 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: poc · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.8.
Weakness
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References (7)
- https://medium.com/%40zenmoviefornotification/saidov-maxim-cve-2023-26604-c1232a526ba7 (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
- https://github.com/systemd/systemd/blob/main/NEWS#L4335-L4340 (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
- https://blog.compass-security.com/2012/10/dangerous-sudoers-entries-part-2-insecure-functionality/ (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
- [debian-lts-announce] 20230331 [SECURITY] [DLA 3377-1] systemd security update (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_transferred
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230505-0009/ (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174130/systemd-246-Local-Root-Privilege-Escalation.html (opens in a new tab)x_transferred
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-398330.html (opens in a new tab)
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2023-26604)Record last updated .