Description
Multiple untrusted search path vulnerabilities in elf/dl-object.c in certain modified versions of the GNU C Library (aka glibc or libc6), including glibc-2.5-49.el5_5.6 and glibc-2.12-1.7.el6_0.3 in Red Hat Enterprise Linux, allow local users to gain privileges via a crafted dynamic shared object (DSO) in a subdirectory of the current working directory during execution of a (1) setuid or (2) setgid program that has $ORIGIN in (a) RPATH or (b) RUNPATH within the program itself or a referenced library. NOTE: this issue exists because of an incorrect fix for CVE-2010-3847.
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Red Hat
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL 6 | nscd +6 | 2.12-1.7.el6_0.5 | RHSA-2011:0413 |
| RHEL 5 | nscd +6 | 2.5-58.el5_6.2 | RHSA-2011:0412 |
Public exploits
Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.
Exploit-DB 1
- GNU C library dynamic linker - '$ORIGIN' Expansion EDB-15274 · local · Oct 18, 2010 · verified
Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.
Advisories 2
- RHSA-2011:0413 Red Hat Security Advisory: glibc security update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jun 26, 2026
- RHSA-2011:0412 Red Hat Security Advisory: glibc security update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jan 29, 2026
References
- 20111013 VMSA-2011-0012 VMware ESXi and ESX updates to third party libraries and ESX Service Console mailing-list
- 46397 third-party-advisory
- RHSA-2011:0412 vendor-advisory
- ADV-2011-0863 vdb-entry
- [oss-security] 20110203 Re: CVE request: glibc CVE-2010-3847 fix regression mailing-list
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=667974
- 43989 third-party-advisory
- USN-1009-2 vendor-advisory
- 1025289 vdb-entry
- DSA-2122-2 vendor-advisory
- MDVSA-2011:178 vendor-advisory
- 43830 third-party-advisory
- RHSA-2011:0413 vendor-advisory
- http://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2011-0012.html
- oval:org.mitre.oval:def:13086 vdb-entry signature
- https://launchpad.net/bugs/701783
- http://sourceware.org/git/?p=glibc.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=96611391ad8823ba58405325d78cefeae5cdf699
- [oss-security] 20110203 CVE request: glibc CVE-2010-3847 fix regression mailing-list