Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2017-14159

medium Nessus Plugin ID 254761

Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

- slapd in OpenLDAP 2.4.45 and earlier creates a PID file after dropping privileges to a non-root account, which might allow local users to kill arbitrary processes by leveraging access to this non-root account for PID file modification before a root script executes a kill `cat /pathname` command, as demonstrated by openldap-initscript. (CVE-2017-14159)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

See Also

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2017-14159

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 254761

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2017_14159.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 8/25/2025

Updated: 8/25/2025

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Low

Score: 3.6

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Low

Base Score: 1.9

Temporal Score: 1.4

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2017-14159

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.7

Temporal Score: 4.1

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:14.0, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:11.0, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:13.0, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:openldap, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:12.0

Required KB Items: Host/cpu, Host/local_checks_enabled, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 9/5/2017

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2017-14159