Description
Race condition in PulseAudio 0.9.9, 0.9.10, and 0.9.14 allows local users to gain privileges via vectors involving creation of a hard link, related to the application setting LD_BIND_NOW to 1, and then calling execv on the target of the /proc/self/exe symlink.
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | pulseaudio | 0.9.15-4.1 | — |
| Debian 13 | pulseaudio | 0.9.15-4.1 | — |
| Debian 12 | pulseaudio | 0.9.15-4.1 | — |
| Debian 5.0 | pulseaudio | 0.9.10-3+lenny1 | DSA-1838-1 |
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 2
- PulseAudio setuid - Local Privilege Escalation EDB-9207 · local · Jul 20, 2009 · verified
- PulseAudio setuid (Ubuntu 9.04 / Slackware 12.2.0) - Local Privilege Escalation EDB-9208 · local · Jul 20, 2009 · verified
Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.
Advisories 1
- DSA-1838-1 pulseaudio - privilege escalation Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
References
- 35868 third-party-advisory
- MDVSA-2009:171 vendor-advisory
- http://blog.cr0.org/2009/07/old-school-local-root-vulnerability-in.html
- pulseaudio-suid-privilege-escalation(51804) vdb-entry
- http://www.akitasecurity.nl/advisory.php?id=AK20090602
- MDVSA-2009:152 vendor-advisory
- 35886 third-party-advisory
- 35721 vdb-entry
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=510071
- 20090717 PulseAudio local race condition privilege escalation vulnerability mailing-list
- https://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/pulseaudio-0.9.10-1.el5.2
- DSA-1838 vendor-advisory
- 35896 third-party-advisory
- http://taviso.decsystem.org/research.html
- GLSA-200907-13 vendor-advisory
- USN-804-1 vendor-advisory