Format string vulnerability in the sudo_debug function in Sudo 1.8.0 through 1.8.3p1 allows local users to execute arbitrary code via format string sequences in the program name for sudo.

The Rocky Linux 9.6 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the CIQ ciqsa-2026_1620 advisory.

    This advisory aggregates security fixes for the sudo SRPM in CIQ LTS 9.6. It addresses 17 CVEs:
    CVE-2016-7076, CVE-2012-0809, CVE-2013-1775, CVE-2015-5602, CVE-2013-1776, and 12 more.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the CIQ security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The Rocky Linux 8.6 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the CIQ ciqsa-2026_0263 advisory.

    This advisory aggregates security fixes for the sudo SRPM in CIQ LTS 8.6. It addresses 16 CVEs:
    CVE-2016-7076, CVE-2019-14287, CVE-2012-2337, CVE-2012-0809, CVE-2013-1775, and 11 more.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the CIQ security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The Rocky Linux 9.2 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the CIQ ciqsa-2026_0496 advisory.

    This advisory aggregates security fixes for the sudo SRPM in CIQ LTS 9.2. It addresses 18 CVEs:
    CVE-2016-7076, CVE-2012-0809, CVE-2013-1775, CVE-2015-5602, CVE-2013-1776, and 13 more.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the CIQ security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote NewStart CGSL host, running version CORE 5.05 / MAIN 5.05, has sudo packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities:

  - A certain Fedora patch for parse.c in sudo before 1.7.4p5-1.fc14 on Fedora 14 does not properly interpret     a system group (aka %group) in the sudoers file during authorization decisions for a user who belongs to     that group, which allows local users to leverage an applicable sudoers file and gain root privileges via a     sudo command. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of a CVE-2009-0034 regression. (CVE-2011-0008)

  - check.c in sudo 1.7.x before 1.7.4p5, when a Runas group is configured, does not require a password for     command execution that involves a gid change but no uid change, which allows local users to bypass an     intended authentication requirement via the -g option to a sudo command. (CVE-2011-0010)

  - Format string vulnerability in the sudo_debug function in Sudo 1.8.0 through 1.8.3p1 allows local users to     execute arbitrary code via format string sequences in the program name for sudo. (CVE-2012-0809)

  - sudo 1.6.x and 1.7.x before 1.7.9p1, and 1.8.x before 1.8.4p5, does not properly support configurations     that use a netmask syntax, which allows local users to bypass intended command restrictions in     opportunistic circumstances by executing a command on a host that has an IPv4 address. (CVE-2012-2337)

  - sudo 1.6.0 through 1.7.10p6 and sudo 1.8.0 through 1.8.6p6 allows local users or physically proximate     attackers to bypass intended time restrictions and retain privileges without re-authenticating by setting     the system clock and sudo user timestamp to the epoch. (CVE-2013-1775)

  - sudo 1.3.5 through 1.7.10 and 1.8.0 through 1.8.5, when the tty_tickets option is enabled, does not     properly validate the controlling terminal device, which allows local users with sudo permissions to     hijack the authorization of another terminal via vectors related to connecting to the standard input,     output, and error file descriptors of another terminal. NOTE: this is one of three closely-related     vulnerabilities that were originally assigned CVE-2013-1776, but they have been SPLIT because of different     affected versions. (CVE-2013-1776)

  - Sudo before 1.9.5p2 contains an off-by-one error that can result in a heap-based buffer overflow, which     allows privilege escalation to root via sudoedit -s and a command-line argument that ends with a single     backslash character. (CVE-2021-3156)

  - A heap-based buffer overflow was found in the way sudo parses command line arguments. This flaw is     exploitable by any local user who can execute the sudo command without authentication. Successful     exploitation of this flaw could lead to privilege escalation.  (CVE-2021-3156)

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote NewStart CGSL host, running version CORE 5.04 / MAIN 5.04, has sudo packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities:

  - A certain Fedora patch for parse.c in sudo before 1.7.4p5-1.fc14 on Fedora 14 does not properly interpret     a system group (aka %group) in the sudoers file during authorization decisions for a user who belongs to     that group, which allows local users to leverage an applicable sudoers file and gain root privileges via a     sudo command. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of a CVE-2009-0034 regression. (CVE-2011-0008)

  - check.c in sudo 1.7.x before 1.7.4p5, when a Runas group is configured, does not require a password for     command execution that involves a gid change but no uid change, which allows local users to bypass an     intended authentication requirement via the -g option to a sudo command. (CVE-2011-0010)

  - Format string vulnerability in the sudo_debug function in Sudo 1.8.0 through 1.8.3p1 allows local users to     execute arbitrary code via format string sequences in the program name for sudo. (CVE-2012-0809)

  - sudo 1.6.x and 1.7.x before 1.7.9p1, and 1.8.x before 1.8.4p5, does not properly support configurations     that use a netmask syntax, which allows local users to bypass intended command restrictions in     opportunistic circumstances by executing a command on a host that has an IPv4 address. (CVE-2012-2337)

  - sudo 1.6.0 through 1.7.10p6 and sudo 1.8.0 through 1.8.6p6 allows local users or physically proximate     attackers to bypass intended time restrictions and retain privileges without re-authenticating by setting     the system clock and sudo user timestamp to the epoch. (CVE-2013-1775)

  - sudo 1.3.5 through 1.7.10 and 1.8.0 through 1.8.5, when the tty_tickets option is enabled, does not     properly validate the controlling terminal device, which allows local users with sudo permissions to     hijack the authorization of another terminal via vectors related to connecting to the standard input,     output, and error file descriptors of another terminal. NOTE: this is one of three closely-related     vulnerabilities that were originally assigned CVE-2013-1776, but they have been SPLIT because of different     affected versions. (CVE-2013-1776)

  - Todd Miller's sudo version 1.8.20p1 and earlier is vulnerable to an input validation (embedded newlines)     in the get_process_ttyname() function resulting in information disclosure and command execution.
    (CVE-2017-1000368)

  - Sudo before 1.9.5p2 contains an off-by-one error that can result in a heap-based buffer overflow, which     allows privilege escalation to root via sudoedit -s and a command-line argument that ends with a single     backslash character. (CVE-2021-3156)

  - A heap-based buffer overflow was found in the way sudo parses command line arguments. This flaw is     exploitable by any local user who can execute the sudo command without authentication. Successful     exploitation of this flaw could lead to privilege escalation.  (CVE-2021-3156)

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote NewStart CGSL host, running version MAIN 6.02, has sudo packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities:

  - A certain Fedora patch for parse.c in sudo before 1.7.4p5-1.fc14 on Fedora 14 does not properly interpret     a system group (aka %group) in the sudoers file during authorization decisions for a user who belongs to     that group, which allows local users to leverage an applicable sudoers file and gain root privileges via a     sudo command. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of a CVE-2009-0034 regression. (CVE-2011-0008)

  - check.c in sudo 1.7.x before 1.7.4p5, when a Runas group is configured, does not require a password for     command execution that involves a gid change but no uid change, which allows local users to bypass an     intended authentication requirement via the -g option to a sudo command. (CVE-2011-0010)

  - Format string vulnerability in the sudo_debug function in Sudo 1.8.0 through 1.8.3p1 allows local users to     execute arbitrary code via format string sequences in the program name for sudo. (CVE-2012-0809)

  - sudo 1.6.x and 1.7.x before 1.7.9p1, and 1.8.x before 1.8.4p5, does not properly support configurations     that use a netmask syntax, which allows local users to bypass intended command restrictions in     opportunistic circumstances by executing a command on a host that has an IPv4 address. (CVE-2012-2337)

  - sudo 1.6.0 through 1.7.10p6 and sudo 1.8.0 through 1.8.6p6 allows local users or physically proximate     attackers to bypass intended time restrictions and retain privileges without re-authenticating by setting     the system clock and sudo user timestamp to the epoch. (CVE-2013-1775)

  - sudo 1.3.5 through 1.7.10 and 1.8.0 through 1.8.5, when the tty_tickets option is enabled, does not     properly validate the controlling terminal device, which allows local users with sudo permissions to     hijack the authorization of another terminal via vectors related to connecting to the standard input,     output, and error file descriptors of another terminal. NOTE: this is one of three closely-related     vulnerabilities that were originally assigned CVE-2013-1776, but they have been SPLIT because of different     affected versions. (CVE-2013-1776)

  - sudo before 1.8.12 does not ensure that the TZ environment variable is associated with a zoneinfo file,     which allows local users to open arbitrary files for read access (but not view file contents) by running a     program within an sudo session, as demonstrated by interfering with terminal output, discarding kernel-log     messages, or repositioning tape drives. (CVE-2014-9680)

  - sudoedit in Sudo before 1.8.15 allows local users to gain privileges via a symlink attack on a file whose     full path is defined using multiple wildcards in /etc/sudoers, as demonstrated by /home/*/*/file.txt.
    (CVE-2015-5602)

  - sudo before version 1.8.18p1 is vulnerable to a bypass in the sudo noexec restriction if application run     via sudo executed wordexp() C library function with a user supplied argument. A local user permitted to     run such application via sudo with noexec restriction could possibly use this flaw to execute arbitrary     commands with elevated privileges. (CVE-2016-7076)

  - Todd Miller's sudo version 1.8.20 and earlier is vulnerable to an input validation (embedded spaces) in     the get_process_ttyname() function resulting in information disclosure and command execution.
    (CVE-2017-1000367)

  - ** DISPUTED ** In Sudo through 1.8.29, an attacker with access to a Runas ALL sudoer account can     impersonate a nonexistent user by invoking sudo with a numeric uid that is not associated with any user.
    NOTE: The software maintainer believes that this is not a vulnerability because running a command via sudo     as a user not present in the local password database is an intentional feature. Because this behavior     surprised some users, sudo 1.8.30 introduced an option to enable/disable this behavior with the default     being disabled. However, this does not change the fact that sudo was behaving as intended, and as     documented, in earlier versions. (CVE-2019-19232)

  - Sudo before 1.9.5p2 contains an off-by-one error that can result in a heap-based buffer overflow, which     allows privilege escalation to root via sudoedit -s and a command-line argument that ends with a single     backslash character. (CVE-2021-3156)

  - A heap-based buffer overflow was found in the way sudo parses command line arguments. This flaw is     exploitable by any local user who can execute the sudo command without authentication. Successful     exploitation of this flaw could lead to privilege escalation.  (CVE-2021-3156)

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

sudo was prone to a format string vulnerability

The remote host is affected by the vulnerability described in GLSA-201203-06 (sudo: Privilege escalation)

    Two vulnerabilities have been discovered in sudo:
      When the sudoers file is configured with a Runas group, sudo does not         prompt for a password when changing to the new group (CVE-2011-0010).
      A format string vulnerability exists in the 'sudo_debug()' function         (CVE-2012-0809).
  Impact :

    A local attacker could possibly gain the ability to run arbitrary       commands with the privileges of other users or groups, including root.
  Workaround :

    There is no known workaround at this time.

- fixed CVE-2012-0809

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Fedora security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.

Todd Miller reports :

Sudo 1.8.0 introduced simple debugging support that was primarily intended for use when developing policy or I/O logging plugins. The sudo_debug() function contains a flaw where the program name is used as part of the format string passed to the fprintf() function. The program name can be controlled by the caller, either via a symbolic link or, on some systems, by setting argv[0] when executing sudo.

Using standard format string vulnerability exploitation techniques it is possible to leverage this bug to achieve root privileges.

Exploitation of the bug does not require that the attacker be listed in the sudoers file. As such, we strongly suggest that affected sites upgrade from affected sudo versions as soon as possible.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Type	Severity
364638	Rocky Linux 9.6 [CIQ] Security Update: sudo / sudo-debuginfo / sudo-debugsource / sudo-python-plugin / etc Multiple Vulnerabilities (ciqsa-2026_1620)	Nessus	Rocky Linux Local Security Checks	Local	high
355067	Rocky Linux 8.6 [CIQ] Security Update: sudo / sudo-debuginfo / sudo-debugsource / sudo-devel Multiple Vulnerabilities (ciqsa-2026_0263)	Nessus	Rocky Linux Local Security Checks	Local	high
354134	Rocky Linux 9.2 [CIQ] Security Update: sudo / sudo-debuginfo / sudo-debugsource / sudo-devel / etc Multiple Vulnerabilities (ciqsa-2026_0496)	Nessus	Rocky Linux Local Security Checks	Local	high
160804	NewStart CGSL CORE 5.05 / MAIN 5.05 : sudo Multiple Vulnerabilities (NS-SA-2022-0028)	Nessus	NewStart CGSL Local Security Checks	Local	high
154615	NewStart CGSL CORE 5.04 / MAIN 5.04 : sudo Multiple Vulnerabilities (NS-SA-2021-0101)	Nessus	NewStart CGSL Local Security Checks	Local	high
154540	NewStart CGSL MAIN 6.02 : sudo Multiple Vulnerabilities (NS-SA-2021-0120)	Nessus	NewStart CGSL Local Security Checks	Local	high
74791	openSUSE Security Update : sudo (openSUSE-2012-73)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	Local	high
58216	GLSA-201203-06 : sudo: Privilege escalation	Nessus	Gentoo Local Security Checks	Local	high
57757	Fedora 16 : sudo-1.8.3p1-2.fc16 (2012-1028)	Nessus	Fedora Local Security Checks	Local	high
57739	FreeBSD : sudo -- format string vulnerability (7c920bb7-4b5f-11e1-9f47-00e0815b8da8)	Nessus	FreeBSD Local Security Checks	Local	high

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2012-0809

high

Tenable Plugins

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