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TI-2023-21144 Aliases CVE-2023-40303GHSA-w2mw-45j6-m2cq

GNU inetutils before 2.5 may allow privilege escalation because of unchecked return…

Priority LOW 34CWE-252Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · High · High
Fix status
No fix listed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA.

Summary

GNU inetutils before 2.5 may allow privilege escalation because of unchecked return values of set*id() family functions in ftpd, rcp, rlogin, rsh, rshd, and uucpd. This is, for example, relevant if the setuid system call fails when a process is trying to drop privileges before letting an ordinary user control the activities of the process.

Why it matters now

EPSS 0.00412 35th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Public exploit Yes 1 exploit referenceTagged by NVD
Fix No fix listed No fixed version in the sources yet

SSVC decision points

Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
——all versions—No fix listedCNA
  • — Vendor— Affected all versions Fixed in — No fix listed CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:gnu:inetutils:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*up to 2.4VulnerableGNU
  • cpe:2.3:a:gnu:inetutils:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions up to 2.4 Vulnerable ·GNU

Remediation

No fixed version listed by the sources yet.

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-40303
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-w2mw-45j6-m2cq

References

Exploit 1

Patch 1

Other 3

  • TI-2026-19388 telnetd in GNU Inetutils through 2.7 allows remote authentication bypass via a "-f root"… KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2011-04182 Buffer overflow in libtelnet/encrypt.c in telnetd in FreeBSD 7.3 through 9.0, MIT… CVSS 2.0HIGH 10.0
  • TI-2026-25237 Buffer overflow in GNU inetutils CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-22648 telnetd in GNU inetutils through 2.7 allows privilege escalation that can be exploited by… CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.8
  • TI-2026-25261 telnet in GNU inetutils through 2.7 allows servers to read arbitrary environment… CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 4.7
  • TI-2022-18420 telnetd in GNU Inetutils through 2.3, MIT krb5-appl through 1.0.3, and derivative works… CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
See all 7 →

Sources

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