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Ubuntu 22.04 LTS / 24.04 LTS : GNU Screen vulnerabilities (USN-7978-1)

medium Nessus Plugin ID 296747

Synopsis

The remote Ubuntu host is missing one or more security updates.

Description

The remote Ubuntu 22.04 LTS / 24.04 LTS host has a package installed that is affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the USN-7978-1 advisory.

 It was discovered that GNU Screen incorrectly handled signals when setuid or setgid privileges were being used, which is not the default in Ubuntu. A local attacker could use this issue to send privileged signals, possibly leading to a denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.
 (CVE-2023-24626)

 It was discovered that GNU Screen incorrectly handled PTY permissions. A local attacker could possibly use this issue to connect to an unauthorized screen session. (CVE-2025-46802)

 It was discovered that GNU Screen incorrectly handled file access when setuid privileges were being used, which is not the default in Ubuntu. A local attacker could use this issue to deduce information about certain file paths. (CVE-2025-46804)

 It was discovered that GNU Screen incorrectly handled signals when setuid privileges were being used, which is not the default in Ubuntu. A local attacker could use this issue to send privileged signals, possibly leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2025-46805)

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

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

Solution

Update the affected screen package.

See Also

https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-7978-1

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 296747

File Name: ubuntu_USN-7978-1.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 1/27/2026

Updated: 1/27/2026

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Continuous Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 5.2

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.6

Temporal Score: 3.6

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2023-24626

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.5

Temporal Score: 5.9

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

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

CVSS v4

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.7

Threat Score: 4.7

Threat Vector: CVSS:4.0/E:P

Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2025-46805

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:screen

Required KB Items: Host/cpu, Host/Ubuntu, Host/Ubuntu/release, Host/Debian/dpkg-l

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 1/26/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 4/8/2023

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2023-24626, CVE-2025-46802, CVE-2025-46804, CVE-2025-46805

USN: 7978-1