CVE-2005-4890: Input Validation

Published Jul 26, 2004
·
Updated

Quoting first paragraph from [1]: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/showbug.cgi?id=173008

for issue description: ====================== When starting a program via "su - user -c program" the user session can escape to the parent session by using the TIOCSTI ioctl to push characters into the input buffer. This allows for example a non-root session to push "chmod 666 /etc/shadow" or similarly bad commands into the input buffer such that after the end of the session they are executed.

References: [1] https://bugzilla.redhat.com/showbug.cgi?id=173008 [2] http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=628843

Other sources

There is a possible tty hijacking in shadow 4.x before 4.1.5 and sudo 1.x before 1.7.4 via "su - user -c program". The user session can be escaped to the parent session by using the TIOCSTI ioctl to push characters into the input buffer to be read by the next process.

Red Hat

Affected Software

10 affected componentsFixes available
Sudo Project Sudo>=1.3.0<=1.7.4
Debian shadow>=4.0.0<=4.1.5
Debian Debian Linux=8.0
Debian Debian Linux=9.0
Debian Debian Linux=10.0
redhat Enterprise Linux=6.0
redhat Enterprise Linux=4
redhat Enterprise Linux=5
debian/shadow
1:4.8.1-11:4.8.1-1+deb11u11:4.13+dfsg1-1+deb12u21:4.17.4-21:4.18.0-21:4.19.3-1
debian/sudo
1.9.5p2-3+deb11u11.9.5p2-3+deb11u31.9.13p3-1+deb12u31.9.13p3-1+deb12u21.9.16p2-31.9.17p2-4

Event History

Jul 26, 2004
CVE Published
via Red Hat·12:00 AM
Data Sourced
via Red Hat·12:00 AM
RemedyDescriptionSeverity
Jun 2, 2011
Data Sourced
via Red Hat·05:13 PM
Affected Software
Nov 4, 2019
CVE Published
via MITRE·11:38 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·11:38 PM
DescriptionWeakness
Feb 26, 2026
Data Sourced
via Debian·08:42 PM
DescriptionAffected Software
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Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is the severity of CVE-2005-4890?

CVE-2005-4890 has a moderate severity rating due to its potential exploitation in TIOCSTI attacks.

2

How do I fix CVE-2005-4890?

To fix CVE-2005-4890, update affected packages such as shadow and sudo to the specified remedied versions.

3

Which software versions are affected by CVE-2005-4890?

CVE-2005-4890 affects various versions of the Debian 'shadow' and 'sudo' packages, as well as certain versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

4

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2005-4890?

CVE-2005-4890 is a privilege escalation vulnerability associated with improper handling of signals.

5

Is CVE-2005-4890 still a concern in modern systems?

While CVE-2005-4890 is older, systems running outdated versions of the affected software remain at risk and should be updated.

Contact

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