REDHAT-BUG-2533642: High severity NetworkManager NetworkManager-vpnc vulnerability

Published Sep 15, 2026
·
Updated

A privilege escalation flaw was found in NetworkManager-vpnc, the vpnc VPN plugin for NetworkManager. nm-vpnc-service validates plugin-specific VPN configuration items for embedded newline characters, but omits the top-level NMSettingVpn user-name property from this check. This unvalidated username is later serialized verbatim into vpnc's configuration as an "Xauth username" directive. A local unprivileged user can create a VPN profile whose username contains a newline character followed by a "Password helper" directive, causing the root-privileged vpnc process to parse the injected directive and execute an attacker-chosen helper program with UID/EUID 0 when the malicious VPN connection is activated.

Affected Software

1 affected component
NetworkManager NetworkManager-vpnc

Event History

Sep 15, 2026
Data Sourced
via Red Hat·09:51 AM
DescriptionSeverityAffected Software

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