dbcve.org
Enterprise LinuxOperating system · Redhat

CVE-2024-5742

MEDIUM · 6.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-06-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 8.0 or later.
See remediation →
67/100
Remediation priority · Elevated

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
A vulnerability was found in GNU Nano that allows a possible privilege escalation through an insecure temporary file. If Nano is killed while editing, a file it saves to an emergency file with the permissions of the running user provides a window of opportunity for attackers to escalate privileges through a malicious symlink.

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 · moderate confidence

GNU Nano contains a privilege escalation vulnerability where killing the editor while editing causes it to save an emergency backup file with the running user's permissions. An attacker can exploit this by placing a malicious symlink at the emergency file location, allowing them to overwrite or manipulate files they shouldn't have access to, potentially leading to privilege escalation.

MitigationUpgrade to a patched version of GNU Nano that implements secure temporary file handling (e.g., O_EXCL, proper permission setting, or atomic file operations). Until patched, limit access to systems where untrusted users can kill editor processes and monitor for suspicious symlink creation in editable directories.

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
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 6.0= 7.0= 8.0= 9.0
NanoApplication
Affected:>= 2.2.0, < 8.0

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
High
Privileges
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/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 GNU Nano version
    Run `nano --version` or `rpm -q nano` (RHEL) to determine the installed version number
    Affected if The version is >= 2.2.0 and < 8.0, placing it within the vulnerable range
  2. Identify the emergency backup file location
    Check nano's configuration with `nano --filename=` /proc/.../environ 2>&1 | head -20 or examine the default location (~/.nano/ or /tmp/) for emergency save behavior
    Affected if The emergency file path is in a directory writable by other users (e.g., /tmp, shared home directories)
  3. Look for suspicious symlinks in common edit directories
    Run `ls -la` in /tmp, /var/tmp, and user home directories looking for symlinks pointing to sensitive system files (e.g., /etc/passwd, /etc/sudoers) that may have been created as exploit staging
    Affected if Unexpected symlinks exist in writable directories, especially those targeting system configuration files
  4. Verify file permissions on nano's working directories
    Check permissions on ~/.nano/ and /tmp with `ls -ld ~/.nano /tmp` - look for world-writable or group-writable permissions
    Affected if Directories are world-writable or group-writable, allowing other users to place malicious symlinks

You are affected if nano version is >= 2.2.0 and < 8.0 AND the emergency backup location is in a directory where untrusted users can create symlinks.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 8.0 or later
Fixed in 8.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to a patched version of GNU Nano that implements secure temporary file handling (e.g., O_EXCL, proper permission setting, or atomic file operations). Until patched, limit access to systems where untrusted users can kill editor processes and monitor for suspicious symlink creation in editable directories.

Recommended fix High confidence

nano >= 8.0

  1. Update the nano package to version 8.0 or later using your system's package manager (e.g., dnf update nano or apt-get install nano)

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

Fix this in Enterprise Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-2024-5742 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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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