Description
crontab by Paul Vixie uses predictable file names for a temporary file and does not properly ensure that the file is owned by the user executing the crontab -e command, which allows local users with write access to the crontab spool directory to execute arbitrary commands by creating world-writeable temporary files and modifying them while the victim is editing the file.
Public exploits
Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.
Third-party code, not reviewed by us. Public PoCs are sometimes fake or contain malware. Read the code first and run it only in an isolated lab, against systems you are authorised to test.
Exploit-DB 1
- vixie-cron - Local Privilege Escalation EDB-203 · local · Nov 21, 2000 · verified
Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.
References
- vixie-cron-execute-commands(5543) vdb-entry
- 20001116 vixie cron... mailing-list
- 1960 vdb-entry