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FirejailApplication · Firejail Project

CVE-2016-10117

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-04-13
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
Firejail does not restrict access to --tmpfs, which allows local users to gain privileges, as demonstrated by mounting over /etc.

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

Firejail's --tmpfs option allows local users to mount temporary filesystems over sensitive directories like /etc, bypassing intended sandbox restrictions and enabling local privilege escalation.

MitigationRestrict or deny the use of --tmpfs for critical system directories through Firejail configuration profiles or update to a version that properly validates tmpfs mount targets.

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
FirejailApplication
Affected:all versions

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 if Firejail is installed
    Run 'which firejail' or 'dpkg -l | grep firejail' or 'rpm -qa | grep firejail' depending on your package manager
    Affected if Firejail is present on the system
  2. Verify Firejail version
    Run 'firejail --version' to identify the installed version
    Affected if Any version is installed since all versions are affected according to the CVE
  3. Check for active Firejail profiles
    Look in /etc/firejail/ for profile files (ls /etc/firejail/) and check if --tmpfs is explicitly denied for sensitive directories
    Affected if Profiles exist that do not block --tmpfs mounting over /etc or other sensitive directories
  4. Inspect running sandbox configurations
    Use 'firejail --list' to see active sandboxes and check if any are using --tmpfs with sensitive targets
    Affected if Active sandboxes use --tmpfs to mount over directories like /etc, /var, or /home
  5. Review user access to Firejail
    Check if unprivileged users can invoke Firejail (look at /etc/sudoers, group memberships, or execute 'getent group firejail')
    Affected if Users have permission to run firejail and could leverage the --tmpfs option

A system is affected if Firejail is installed and users can invoke the --tmpfs option to mount over sensitive directories without proper validation.

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

Restrict or deny the use of --tmpfs for critical system directories through Firejail configuration profiles or update to a version that properly validates tmpfs mount targets.

Fix this in Firejail Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,800
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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-2016-10117 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