Local privilege escalation Blueman
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Impact type
- Code execution
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · High · Low
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-88.
Summary
Blueman is a GTK+ Bluetooth Manager. In Blueman before 2.1.4, the DhcpClient method of the D-Bus interface to blueman-mechanism is prone to an argument injection vulnerability. The impact highly depends on the system configuration. If Polkit-1 is disabled and for versions lower than 2.0.6, any local user can possibly exploit this. If Polkit-1 is enabled for version 2.0.6 and later, a possible attacker needs to be allowed to use the `org.blueman.dhcp.client` action. That is limited to users in the wheel group in the shipped rules file that do have the privileges anyway. On systems with ISC DHCP client (dhclient), attackers can pass arguments to `ip link` with the interface name that can e.g. be used to bring down an interface or add an arbitrary XDP/BPF program. On systems with dhcpcd and without ISC DHCP client, attackers can even run arbitrary scripts by passing `-c/path/to/script` as an interface name. Patches are included in 2.1.4 and master that change the DhcpClient D-Bus method(s) to accept BlueZ network object paths instead of network interface names. A backport to 2.0(.8) is also available. As a workaround, make sure that Polkit-1-support is enabled and limit privileges for the `org.blueman.dhcp.client` action to users that are able to run arbitrary commands as root anyway in /usr/share/polkit-1/rules.d/blueman.rules.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| blueman-project | blueman | before 2.1.4 | 2.1.4 | Patch available | CNA |
- blueman Vendorblueman-project Affected before 2.1.4 Fixed in 2.1.4 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 6
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:blueman_project:blueman:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | before 2.1.4 | Vulnerable | blueman-project |
| cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 9.0 | Vulnerable | Debian |
| cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 10.0 | Vulnerable | Debian |
| cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:31:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 31 | Vulnerable | Fedoraproject |
| cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:32:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 32 | Vulnerable | Fedoraproject |
| cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:33:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 33 | Vulnerable | Fedoraproject |
- cpe:2.3:a:blueman_project:blueman:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions before 2.1.4 Vulnerable ·blueman-project
- cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 9.0 Vulnerable ·Debian
- cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 10.0 Vulnerable ·Debian
- cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:31:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 31 Vulnerable ·Fedoraproject
- cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:32:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 32 Vulnerable ·Fedoraproject
- cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:33:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 33 Vulnerable ·Fedoraproject
Remediation
- Fix · CNA blueman (blueman-project) Fixed in 2.1.4
Vendor assessments
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2020-15238
References
Exploit 2
Advisory 8
- https://github.com/blueman-project/blueman/security/advisories/GHSA-jpc9-mgw6-2xwx
- https://github.com/blueman-project/blueman/releases/tag/2.1.4
- DSA-4781
- [debian-lts-announce] 20201103 [SECURITY] [DLA 2430-1] blueman security update
- FEDORA-2020-7c22b25a07
- FEDORA-2020-ebabb6bf76
- FEDORA-2020-e083225fa1
- GLSA-202011-11
More blueman-project Blueman vulnerabilities
- TI-2015-07077 The EnableNetwork method in the Network class in plugins/mechanism/Network.py in Blueman… CVSS 3.0HIGH 8.4
Sources
- CVE-2020-15238 · CVE Program
- CVE-2020-15238 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- CVE-2020-15238 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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