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EsxOperating system · VMware

CVE-2009-0034

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2009-01-30
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
parse.c in sudo 1.6.9p17 through 1.6.9p19 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.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

In sudo versions 1.6.9p17 through 1.6.9p19, the parse.c component fails to correctly process system group (%group) entries in the sudoers file when making authorization decisions for users who are members of those groups. This parsing flaw allows a local user belonging to a group with sudoers permissions to escalate privileges to root by executing sudo commands.

MitigationUpgrade sudo to version 1.6.9p20 or later (or to a current stable version) to obtain the patched parse.c implementation that correctly handles %group sudoers entries.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
EsxOperating system
Affected:= 4.0
SudoApplication
Affected:= 1.6.9

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the installed sudo version
    Run 'sudo -V' or 'sudo --version' to retrieve the sudo version number installed on the system
    Affected if The version displayed falls within the range 1.6.9p17 through 1.6.9p19 (or matches VMware ESX 4.0 which ships with affected sudo)
  2. Locate and examine the sudoers file
    Open /etc/sudoers (or run 'visudo' to view it safely) and search for any entries beginning with '%' which indicate system group permissions
    Affected if Any %group entries exist in the sudoers file that grant sudo privileges to system groups
  3. Identify group membership of the current user
    Run 'groups' or 'id' command to see which groups the current user belongs to
    Affected if The user is a member of any group that appears after a '%' prefix in the sudoers file
  4. Check if %group entries grant root-level privileges
    Review the sudoers %group entries to determine what commands (particularly any without a full path or involving /bin/sh, /bin/bash, or su) are permitted for those groups
    Affected if Any %group entries grant privileges to run commands as root (indicated by (ALL) ALL or (root) ALL without user restrictions)

A system is affected if it runs sudo version 1.6.9p17-1.6.9p19 and has %group entries in sudoers that grant sudo privileges to groups the user belongs to.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade sudo to version 1.6.9p20 or later (or to a current stable version) to obtain the patched parse.c implementation that correctly handles %group sudoers entries.

Fix this in Esx Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2009-0034 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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