CVE-2017-2616

Publication date 22 February 2017

Last updated 25 August 2025

Ubuntu priority

Medium

Why this priority?

Cvss 3 Severity Score

4.7 · Medium

Score breakdown

Description

A race condition was found in util-linux before 2.32.1 in the way su handled the management of child processes. A local authenticated attacker could use this flaw to kill other processes with root privileges under specific conditions.

Read the notes from the security team

Status

Package Ubuntu Release Status
shadow 19.04 disco
Fixed 1:4.2-3.2ubuntu2
18.10 cosmic
Fixed 1:4.2-3.2ubuntu2
18.04 LTS bionic
Fixed 1:4.2-3.2ubuntu2
17.10 artful
Fixed 1:4.2-3.2ubuntu2
17.04 zesty
Fixed 1:4.2-3.2ubuntu1.17.04.1
16.10 yakkety
Fixed 1:4.2-3.2ubuntu1.16.10.1
16.04 LTS xenial
Fixed 1:4.2-3.1ubuntu5.2
14.04 LTS trusty
Fixed 1:4.1.5.1-1ubuntu9.4
12.04 LTS precise Ignored end of life
util-linux 19.04 disco
Not affected
18.10 cosmic
Not affected
18.04 LTS bionic
Not affected
17.10 artful Ignored end of life
17.04 zesty Ignored end of life
16.10 yakkety Ignored end of life
16.04 LTS xenial
Not affected
14.04 LTS trusty
Not affected
12.04 LTS precise Ignored end of life

Notes

sbeattie

ubuntu uses su from shadow package, not util-linux up until (2.32-0.2)

Patch details

For informational purposes only. We recommend not to cherry-pick updates. How can I get the fixes?

Package Patch details
shadow
util-linux

Severity score breakdown

Parameter Value
Base score 4.7 · Medium
Attack vector Local
Attack complexity High
Privileges required Low
User interaction None
Scope Unchanged
Confidentiality None
Integrity impact None
Availability impact High
Vector CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

References

Related Ubuntu Security Notices (USN)

Other references