Util LinuxApplication · Kernel

CVE-2015-5224

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2017-08-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.26.2 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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
The mkostemp function in login-utils in util-linux when used incorrectly allows remote attackers to cause file name collision and possibly other attacks.

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

A detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.

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
Util LinuxApplication
Affected:<= 2.26.2= 2.27

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 2.26.2
Recommended fix High confidence

util-linux 2.27.1 or later stable release (e.g., 2.28, 2.29, or latest available in your distribution)

  1. 1. Identify the current version of util-linux installed on the system using: rpm -q util-linux or dpkg -l util-linux
  2. 2. Back up any critical system configurations that depend on util-linux login utilities
  3. 3. Update the package manager cache: yum check-update (RHEL/CentOS) or apt-get update (Debian/Ubuntu)
  4. 4. Upgrade util-linux to the latest available version in your distribution's repositories: yum update util-linux or apt-get install util-linux
  5. 5. Verify the new version is installed: rpm -q util-linux or dpkg -l util-linux
  6. 6. Test critical login utilities (login, su, sudo) to ensure they function correctly post-upgrade
Caveat Major version upgrades of util-linux may introduce changes to command-line options, behavior, or dependencies; review distribution release notes before upgrading production systems

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can identify the exact fixed release, upgrade, and verify it in staging — typical engagement from $2,300. Get the upgrade done

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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-2015-5224 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
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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