authd Denial of Service and Local Privilege Escalation
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- Present
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and GitHub.
Summary
authd prior to version 0.6.4 contains a logic error in primary group ID assignment that can lead to local privilege escalation. When a user's primary group ID (GID) differs from their UID, either because the account was created with authd prior to version 0.5.4 or because the primary group was manually changed via the `authctl group set-gid` command, and the user's identity provider record is updated, authd incorrectly resets the user's primary group ID to their UID upon next login. This causes newly created files and directories to be owned by the wrong group, causing denial of service issues, and potentially granting unintended access to other local users and allowing local privilege escalation.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canonical | authd | 0.6.0 to before 0.6.4; 0.6.1 to before 0.6.1ubuntu0.1 | 0.6.4, 0.6.1ubuntu0.1 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | github.com/canonical/authd (Go) | 0.6.0 to before 0.6.4 | 0.6.4 | Patch available | GHSA-fg3j-5w9g-hmg7 |
- authd VendorCanonical Affected 0.6.0 to before 0.6.4; 0.6.1 to before 0.6.1ubuntu0.1 Fixed in 0.6.4, 0.6.1ubuntu0.1 Patch available CNA
- github.com/canonical/authd (Go) Vendor— Affected 0.6.0 to before 0.6.4 Fixed in 0.6.4 Patch available GHSA-fg3j-5w9g-hmg7
Remediation
- Fix · CNA authd (Canonical) Fixed in 0.6.4, 0.6.1ubuntu0.1
- Fix · GHSA-fg3j-5w9g-hmg7 github.com/canonical/authd (Go) Fixed in 0.6.4 Advisory →
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-6970
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-fg3j-5w9g-hmg7
References
More Canonical vulnerabilities
- TI-2020-09349 An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt before 2019.2.4 and 3000 before 3000.2. KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2020-05854 smtp_mailaddr in smtp_session.c in OpenSMTPD 6.6, as used in OpenBSD 6.6 and other… KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2020-01431 Netlogon Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 10.0
- TI-2019-12627 Exim 4.92 through 4.92.2 allows remote code execution, a different vulnerability than… KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2019-08259 Underflow in PHP-FPM can lead to RCE KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2019-07471 OS command injection in exim KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
Sources
- CVE-2026-6970 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-6970 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-fg3j-5w9g-hmg7 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
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