CVE-2010-3431
The privilege-dropping implementation in the (1) pam_env and (2) pam_mail modules in Linux-PAM (aka pam) 1.1.2 does not check the return value of the setfsuid system call, which might allow local users to obtain sensitive information by leveraging an unintended uid, as demonstrated by a symlink attack on the .pam_environment file in a user's home directory. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2010-3435.
Key facts
- CVSS score
- 1.9 (v2.0)
- Severity
- LOW
- CVSS vector
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N- EPSS score
- 0.3% (29th percentile)
- In CISA KEV
- No
- In EU EUVD
- Yes (EUVD-2010-3429)
- Published
- January 24, 2011
- NVD last modified
- June 16, 2026
- Status
- Modified
EU Vulnerability Database (EUVD)
This vulnerability is also tracked by ENISA as EUVD-2010-3429 in the EU Vulnerability Database. Last updated in EUVD on August 7, 2024.
View on the EU Vulnerability DatabaseAffected products
- linux-pam / linux-pam
References
- http://git.altlinux.org/people/ldv/packages/?p=pam.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=843807a3a90f52e7538be756616510730a24739a
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2010/09/21/10(Patch)
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2010/09/21/3(Patch)
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2010/09/21/8(Patch)
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2010/09/21/9
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2010/09/27/10
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2010/09/27/4(Patch)
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2010/09/27/5
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2010/09/27/7
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2010/10/03/1(Patch)
- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2010/10/25/2(Patch)
- http://secunia.com/advisories/49711
- http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-201206-31.xml
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2010/09/21/11(Patch)
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2010/09/24/2
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=641361(Patch)
Last updated September 17, 2026 · Source: NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST.org EPSS
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