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Path TraversalWeakness · CWE-22

CVE-2025-8941

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-08-13
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
A flaw was found in linux-pam. The pam_namespace module may improperly handle user-controlled paths, allowing local users to exploit symlink attacks and race conditions to elevate their privileges to root. This CVE provides a "complete" fix for CVE-2025-6020.

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

The pam_namespace module in linux-pam improperly handles user-controlled paths, allowing local users to exploit symlink attacks and race conditions to escalate privileges to root. This is a complete fix for CVE-2025-6020.

MitigationUpdate linux-pam to the version containing the complete fix for CVE-2025-8941, or apply the vendor-supplied patch to remediate the symlink and race condition vulnerabilities in pam_namespace.

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

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. Check if pam_namespace module exists
    Locate the pam_namespace.so shared object, typically found in /lib/security/ or /lib64/security/ directory. Use: find /lib /lib64 -name 'pam_namespace.so' 2>/dev/null
    Affected if The module file exists on the system and could be loaded by PAM configurations
  2. Check if pam_namespace is configured in PAM stacks
    Search PAM configuration files for pam_namespace usage. Use: grep -r 'pam_namespace' /etc/pam.d/ /etc/pam.conf 2>/dev/null
    Affected if pam_namespace appears in any PAM configuration file (common entries include 'namespace' or 'namespace=...' in auth or session stacks)
  3. Identify the linux-pam package version
    Query the installed package manager for linux-pam version. For RPM-based systems: rpm -q pam; for Debian-based: dpkg -l libpam0g; or check /lib/security/pam_namespace.so version with: rpm -qf /lib/security/pam_namespace.so 2>/dev/null
    Affected if The installed version is lower than the version containing the CVE-2025-8941 fix - compare against vendor security advisories for the patched version
  4. Review pam_namespace configuration for unsafe path handling
    Examine /etc/security/namespace.conf and any per-user namespace configuration files (~/.namespace etc.) for entries using user-controlled paths, particularly those with permissive wildcards or writable base directories
    Affected if Configuration allows user-controlled or user-writable directories to be used as namespace bases without proper safeguards

A system is affected if pam_namespace is loaded in any PAM stack AND the installed linux-pam version predates the CVE-2025-8941 fix, regardless of whether the unsafe configuration is actively in use.

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

Update linux-pam to the version containing the complete fix for CVE-2025-8941, or apply the vendor-supplied patch to remediate the symlink and race condition vulnerabilities in pam_namespace.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,390
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2025-8941 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
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