Is CVE-2015-3246 being actively exploited?

Yes. CVE-2015-3246 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, added on August 26, 2026.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2015-3246?

CVE-2015-3246 has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.4 (HIGH).

CVE-2015-3246

HIGH · CVSS 7.4CISA KEV: actively exploitedEPSS 8.5%EU EUVD: exploited

libuser before 0.56.13-8 and 0.60 before 0.60-7, as used in the userhelper program in the usermode package, directly modifies /etc/passwd, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (inconsistent file state) by causing an error during the modification. NOTE: this issue can be combined with CVE-2015-3245 to gain privileges.

Key facts

CVSS score: 7.4 (v3.1)
Severity: HIGH
CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness (CWE): CWE-264
EPSS score: 8.5% (95th percentile)
In CISA KEV: Yes, added August 26, 2026
In EU EUVD: Yes (EUVD-2015-3301)
Published: August 11, 2015
NVD last modified: October 2, 2026
Status: Analyzed

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerability

Red Hat Libuser Race Condition Vulnerability

Added to the KEV catalog on August 26, 2026; federal remediation due September 9, 2026.

EU Vulnerability Database (EUVD)

This vulnerability is also tracked by ENISA as EUVD-2015-3301 in the EU Vulnerability Database. ENISA flags it as known exploited. Last updated in EUVD on October 1, 2026.

View on the EU Vulnerability Database

Affected products

libuser project / libuser
opensuse / opensuse
redhat / enterprise linux
redhat / enterprise linux
redhat / enterprise linux

Certified products that may be affected

7 FIPS 140 or Common Criteria certified products, from automated matching by sec-certs.org.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux libgcrypt Cryptographic Module v4.0 [1] and Red Hat Enterprise Linux libgcrypt Cryptographic Module v5.0 [2] - Red Hat®, Inc. - FIPS 140 2657 - historical
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 OpenSSH-Server Cryptographic Module - Red Hat®, Inc. - FIPS 140 1384 - historical
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 OpenSSH Client Cryptographic Module - Red Hat®, Inc. - FIPS 140 1385 - historical
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 OpenSwan Cryptographic Module - Red Hat®, Inc. - FIPS 140 1386 - historical
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Kernel Crypto API Cryptographic Module - Red Hat®, Inc. - FIPS 140 1387 - historical

See all 7 in the Security Certifications Explorer.

References

http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2015-August/163044.html(Broken Link)
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2015-July/162947.html(Broken Link)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2015-08/msg00000.html(Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2015-1482.html(Vendor Advisory)
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2015-1483.html(Vendor Advisory)
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/76022(Third Party Advisory)
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1033040(Third Party Advisory)
https://access.redhat.com/articles/1537873(Mitigation, Vendor Advisory)
https://blog.talosintelligence.com/uat-10147-chinese-speaking-adversary-integrates-agentic-ai-into-post-compromise-operations/(Third Party Advisory)
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2015-3246(US Government Resource)
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/44633/(Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry)
https://www.qualys.com/2015/07/23/cve-2015-3245-cve-2015-3246/cve-2015-3245-cve-2015-3246.txt(Exploit)

Last updated October 4, 2026 · Source: NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST.org EPSS

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