#VU104166 Input validation error in libcap - CVE-2025-1390

Vulnerability identifier: #VU104166

Vulnerability risk: Low

CVSSv4.0: 5.9 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Clear]

CVE-ID: CVE-2025-1390

CWE-ID: CWE-20

Exploitation vector: Local

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
libcap
Other software / Other software solutions

Vendor: www.friedhoff.org

Description

The vulnerability allows a local user to bypass implemented security restrictions.

The vulnerability exists due to insufficient validation of user-supplied input when parsing groups names. The PAM module pam_cap.so of libcap configuration supports group names starting with “@”, during actual parsing, configurations not starting with “@” are incorrectly recognized as group names. A local user can use this vulnerability to escalate privileges on systems where "/etc/security/capability.conf" is used to configure user inherited privileges by constructing specific usernames.

Mitigation
Install updates from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

libcap: 1.0 - 20071031

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External links
https://bugzilla.openanolis.cn/show_bug.cgi?id=18804
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/libs/libcap/libcap.git/commit/?id=1ad42b66c3567481cc5fa22fc1ba1556a316d878
https://gitee.com/src-anolis-os/libcap/pulls/12

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

No. This vulnerability can be exploited locally. The attacker should have authentication credentials and successfully authenticate on the system.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.