CVE-2024-48991

Publication date 19 November 2024

Last updated 4 December 2024

Ubuntu priority

High

Why this priority?

Cvss 3 Severity Score

7.8 · High

Score breakdown

Qualys discovered that needrestart, before version 3.8, allows local attackers to execute arbitrary code as root by winning a race condition and tricking needrestart into running their own, fake Python interpreter (instead of the system's real Python interpreter). The initial security fix (6ce6136) introduced a regression which was subsequently resolved (42af5d3).

Read the notes from the security team

Why is this CVE high priority?

Local privilege escalation

Learn more about Ubuntu priority

Mitigation

Edit /etc/needrestart/needrestart.conf so that the following line appears after "# Disable interpreter scanners." and reboot: $nrconf{interpscan} = 0;

Status

Package Ubuntu Release Status
needrestart 24.10 oracular
Fixed 3.6-8ubuntu4.2
24.04 LTS noble
Fixed 3.6-7ubuntu4.3
22.04 LTS jammy
Fixed 3.5-5ubuntu2.2
20.04 LTS focal
18.04 LTS bionic
16.04 LTS xenial

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Notes

eslerm

The security fix 6ce6136 ("core: prevent race condition on /proc/$PID/exec evaluation") introduces regressions. See upstream issue #317. As of 2024-11-21, no regression fix exists.

sudhackar

See USN-7117-2 for the regression fix.

Patch details

For informational purposes only. We recommend not to cherry-pick updates. How can I get the fixes?

Package Patch details
needrestart

Severity score breakdown

Parameter Value
Base score 7.8 · High
Attack vector Local
Attack complexity Low
Privileges required Low
User interaction None
Scope Unchanged
Confidentiality High
Integrity impact High
Availability impact High
Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References

Related Ubuntu Security Notices (USN)

    • USN-7117-1
    • needrestart and Module::ScanDeps vulnerabilities
    • 19 November 2024

Other references