7.8
HIGH
CVE-2024-48991
Qualys Qualys Needrestart Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
Description

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).

INFO

Published Date :

Nov. 19, 2024, 6:15 p.m.

Last Modified :

Nov. 19, 2024, 9:56 p.m.

Remotely Exploitable :

No

Impact Score :

5.9

Exploitability Score :

1.8
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2024-48991 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

No affected product recoded yet

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to CVE-2024-48991.

URL Resource
https://github.com/liske/needrestart/commit/6ce6136cccc307c6b8a0f8cae12f9a22ac2aad59
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-48991
https://www.qualys.com/2024/11/19/needrestart/needrestart.txt

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2024-48991 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

  • seclists.org
Local Privilege Escalations in needrestart

Full Disclosure mailing list archives From: Qualys Security Advisory via Fulldisclosure <fulldisclosure () seclists org> Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2024 16:28:37 +0000 Qualys Security Advisory LPEs in needrest ... Read more

Published Date: Nov 21, 2024 (1 day, 14 hours ago)
  • The Register
'Alarming' bugs lay low in Ubuntu Server utility for 10 years

Researchers at Qualys refuse to release exploit code for five bugs in the Linux world's needrestart utility that allow unprivileged local attackers to gain root access without any user interaction. Th ... Read more

Published Date: Nov 21, 2024 (1 day, 19 hours ago)
  • BleepingComputer
Ubuntu Linux impacted by decade-old 'needrestart' flaw that gives root

Five local privilege escalation (LPE) vulnerabilities have been discovered in the needrestart utility used by Ubuntu Linux, which was introduced over 10 years ago in version 21.04. The flaws were disc ... Read more

Published Date: Nov 20, 2024 (2 days, 15 hours ago)
  • The Hacker News
Decades-Old Security Vulnerabilities Found in Ubuntu's Needrestart Package

Multiple decade-old security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in the needrestart package installed by default in Ubuntu Server (since version 21.04) that could allow a local attacker to gain root p ... Read more

Published Date: Nov 20, 2024 (3 days ago)

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2024-48991 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • CVE Received by [email protected]

    Nov. 19, 2024

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Description 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).
    Added Reference Canonical Ltd. https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-48991 [No types assigned]
    Added Reference Canonical Ltd. https://github.com/liske/needrestart/commit/6ce6136cccc307c6b8a0f8cae12f9a22ac2aad59 [No types assigned]
    Added Reference Canonical Ltd. https://www.qualys.com/2024/11/19/needrestart/needrestart.txt [No types assigned]
    Added CVSS V3.1 Canonical Ltd. AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2024-48991 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2024-48991 weaknesses.

CVSS31 - Vulnerability Scoring System
Attack Vector
Attack Complexity
Privileges Required
User Interaction
Scope
Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability