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NagiosApplication

CVE-2016-10089

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-02-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 4.2.4 or later.
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
Nagios 4.3.2 and earlier allows local users to gain root privileges via a hard link attack on the Nagios init script file, related to CVE-2016-8641.

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

Nagios 4.3.2 and earlier contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability where a local user can gain root privileges through a hard link attack on the Nagios init script file. The init script, owned by root with elevated privileges, can be hard-linked by a local attacker who then modifies the linked file to execute arbitrary code with root permissions.

MitigationRestrict write access to Nagios init script files, ensure init scripts are not world-writable, and upgrade to a patched Nagios version if available. Implement file integrity monitoring on critical system files.

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
NagiosApplication
Affected:<= 4.2.4

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:3.0/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. Check installed Nagios version
    Run 'nagios --version' or 'rpm -q nagios' or check /usr/local/nagios/etc/nagios.cfg for version string
    Affected if Version is 4.2.4 or earlier (vulnerable range)
  2. Locate Nagios init script
    Run 'ls -la /etc/init.d/nagios' or 'ls -la /etc/rc.d/init.d/nagios' or use 'find /etc -name "nagios" -type f' to find init scripts
    Affected if Init script exists on the system (exposure surface present)
  3. Verify init script ownership and permissions
    Run 'ls -la /etc/init.d/nagios' and check if owner is root and permissions do not include world-writable (should be 755 or stricter)
    Affected if File is not owned by root or has world-writable permissions (e.g., 777)
  4. Detect unauthorized hard links to init script
    Run 'find / -xdev -type f -links +1 -inum <inode_of_init_script>' where you get the inode from 'ls -li /etc/init.d/nagios'
    Affected if Any hard links exist pointing to the init script from directories owned by non-root users

A system is affected if Nagios version is 4.2.4 or earlier AND the init script has weak permissions or unauthorized hard links exist pointing to it.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 4.2.4
Interim mitigation

Restrict write access to Nagios init script files, ensure init scripts are not world-writable, and upgrade to a patched Nagios version if available. Implement file integrity monitoring on critical system files.

Fix this in Nagios Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.

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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-2016-10089 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data