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TI-2023-22621 Aliases CVE-2023-42456GHSA-2r3c-m6v7-9354

sudo-rs Session File Relative Path Traversal vulnerability

Priority LOW 36CWE-22Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
None · High · High
Fix status
Fixed

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

Summary

Sudo-rs, a memory safe implementation of sudo and su, allows users to not have to enter authentication at every sudo attempt, but instead only requiring authentication every once in a while in every terminal or process group. Only once a configurable timeout has passed will the user have to re-authenticate themselves. Supporting this functionality is a set of session files (timestamps) for each user, stored in `/var/run/sudo-rs/ts`. These files are named according to the username from which the sudo attempt is made (the origin user). An issue was discovered in versions prior to 0.2.1 where usernames containing the `.` and `/` characters could result in the corruption of specific files on the filesystem. As usernames are generally not limited by the characters they can contain, a username appearing to be a relative path can be constructed. For example we could add a user to the system containing the username `../../../../bin/cp`. When logged in as a user with that name, that user could run `sudo -K` to clear their session record file. The session code then constructs the path to the session file by concatenating the username to the session file storage directory, resulting in a resolved path of `/bin/cp`. The code then clears that file, resulting in the `cp` binary effectively being removed from the system. An attacker needs to be able to login as a user with a constructed username. Given that such a username is unlikely to exist on an existing system, they will also need to be able to create the users with the constructed usernames. The issue is patched in version 0.2.1 of sudo-rs. Sudo-rs now uses the uid for the user instead of their username for determining the filename. Note that an upgrade to this version will result in existing session files being ignored and users will be forced to re-authenticate. It also fully eliminates any possibility of path traversal, given that uids are always integer values. The `sudo -K` and `sudo -k` commands can run, even if a user has no sudo access. As a workaround, make sure that one's system does not contain any users with a specially crafted username. While this is the case and while untrusted users do not have the ability to create arbitrary users on the system, one should not be able to exploit this issue.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00625 50th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed sudo-rs (memorysafety): 0.2.1sudo-rs (crates.io): 0.2.1

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
None
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Partial

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
memorysafetysudo-rsbefore 0.2.10.2.1Patch availableCNA
—sudo-rs (crates.io)before 0.2.10.2.1Patch availableGHSA-2r3c-m6v7-9354
  • sudo-rs Vendormemorysafety Affected before 0.2.1 Fixed in 0.2.1 Patch available CNA
  • sudo-rs (crates.io) Vendor— Affected before 0.2.1 Fixed in 0.2.1 Patch available GHSA-2r3c-m6v7-9354

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:memorysafety:sudo:*:*:*:*:*:rust:*:*before 0.2.1Vulnerablememorysafety
  • cpe:2.3:a:memorysafety:sudo:*:*:*:*:*:rust:*:* Versions before 0.2.1 Vulnerable ·memorysafety

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA sudo-rs (memorysafety) Fixed in 0.2.1
  • Fix · GHSA-2r3c-m6v7-9354 sudo-rs (crates.io) Fixed in 0.2.1 Advisory →

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-42456
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-2r3c-m6v7-9354
  3. 2026-11-03 EPSS moved to the 50th–90th percentile

References

Sources