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OpenAdvisories
High USN-4614-1 1 CVE

gdm3 vulnerability

Published Nov 3, 2020 · Updated Apr 27, 2026

Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Summary

Kevin Backhouse discovered that GDM incorrectly launched the initial setup
tool when the accountsservice daemon was not reachable. A local attacker
able to cause accountsservice to crash or stop responding could trick GDM
into launching the initial setup tool and create a privileged user.

Fixed packages 2

ReleasePackageFixed in
Ubuntu · 18.04 LTS 18.04:LTS gdm3 3.28.3-0ubuntu18.04.6
Ubuntu · 20.04 LTS 20.04:LTS gdm3 3.36.3-0ubuntu0.20.04.2

Vulnerabilities 1

  • High 7.2
    CVE-2020-16125 Public exploit

    gdm3 would start gnome-initial-setup if it cannot contact accountservice

    gdm3 versions before 3.36.2 or 3.38.2 would start gnome-initial-setup if gdm3 can't contact the accountservice service via dbus in a timely manner; on Ubuntu (and potentially derivatives) this could be be chained with an additional issue that could allow a lo…

    GNOME GDM3 gdm3 gdm3 Debian Ubuntu

References

  • report
    https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-16125