CVE-2011-0721

Multiple CRLF injection vulnerabilities in (1) chfn and (2) chsh in shadow 1:4.1.4 allow local users to add new users or groups to /etc/passwd via the GECOS field.

From the Ubuntu Security Team

Kees Cook discovered that some shadow utilities did not correctly validate user input. A local attacker could exploit this flaw to inject newlines into the /etc/passwd file. If the system was configured to use NIS, this could lead to existing NIS groups or users gaining or losing access to the system, resulting in a denial of service or unauthorized access.

Read the notes from the security team

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Notes

References

• MITRE
• NVD
• Launchpad
• Debian

Related Ubuntu Security Notices (USN)

• USN-1065-1
• shadow vulnerability
• 15 February 2011

Other references

• https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2011-0721