Description
A flaw was found in NetworkManager-sstp, the SSTP VPN plugin for NetworkManager. A local unprivileged user can exploit this vulnerability by embedding special characters, known as shell metacharacters, into VPN connection profile fields such as CA certificate or proxy settings. These unescaped characters are then processed by the `pppd` daemon, which runs with root privileges, allowing the attacker to execute arbitrary commands with elevated permissions when a malicious VPN connection is activated.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| GNOME | NetworkManager-sstp | — | — |
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 13 | network-manager-sstp | No fix yet | — |
| Debian 12 | network-manager-sstp | No fix yet | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.10 | network-manager-sstp | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | network-manager-sstp | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | network-manager-sstp | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | network-manager-sstp | No fix yet | — |