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Coreutils CVE-2016-2781

MEDIUM
Improper Input Validation (CWE-20)
2017-02-07 cve@mitre.org
4.6
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
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Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A05:2025 - Injection
ASVS 5.0
V2 - Validation and Business Logic Input validation, allowlisting
Impact

CVSS score of 4.6 (MEDIUM). Attack characteristics: local attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, user interaction required. EPSS exploitation probability: 0.08%.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

Successful exploitation could compromise the medium-severity affected system.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
No patch listed yet 0.1% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAI

chroot in GNU coreutils, when used with --userspec, allows local users to escape to the parent session via a crafted TIOCSTI ioctl call, which pushes characters to the terminal's input buffer. Rated medium severity (CVSS 4.6), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.

RemediationAI

No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Apply vendor patches when available. Implement network segmentation and monitoring as interim mitigations.

Affects your stack

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Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-20. chroot in GNU coreutils, when used with --userspec, allows local users to escape to the parent session via a crafted TIOCSTI ioctl call, which pushes characters to the terminal's input buffer. Affected products include: Gnu Coreutils.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY 4.6 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.

CVSS VectorNVD

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

DescriptionCVE.org

chroot in GNU coreutils, when used with --userspec, allows local users to escape to the parent session via a crafted TIOCSTI ioctl call, which pushes characters to the terminal's input buffer.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.1%
Top 76% exploitable
Data Quality
3 sources
Confidence: Low

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity MEDIUM
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.1%
Patch available No
Active threat No
Deciding rule
MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Defer
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Small
Automatable· derived
No
Human Impact· derived
Medium

Priority Score

23
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +23
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.

Affected Products (CPE)CVE.org

cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
CVE-2014-9471 HIGH POC
7.5 Jan 16

The parse_datetime function in GNU coreutils allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or possibly ex

CVE-2026-35338 HIGH POC
7.3 Apr 22

Recursive chmod operations can bypass --preserve-root protection in uutils coreutils versions prior to 0.6.0, allowing l

CVE-2026-35341 HIGH POC
7.1 Apr 22

Local privilege escalation in uutils coreutils mkfifo allows authenticated users to downgrade permissions on arbitrary f

CVE-2026-35373 MEDIUM POC
5.5 Apr 22

The ln utility in uutils coreutils fails to process source paths containing non-UTF-8 filename bytes when using target-d

CVE-2026-35339 MEDIUM POC
5.5 Apr 22

The chmod utility in uutils coreutils versions prior to 0.6.0 incorrectly reports success (exit code 0) when recursively

CVE-2026-35361 MEDIUM POC
4.4 Apr 22

The mknod utility in uutils coreutils creates device nodes before atomically applying SELinux security labels, and fails

CVE-2026-35366 MEDIUM POC
4.4 Apr 22

The printenv utility in uutils coreutils versions before 0.6.0 silently omits environment variables containing invalid U

CVE-2026-35368 HIGH
7.8 Apr 22

Privilege escalation to root in uutils coreutils chroot utility allows low-privileged local attackers with write access

CVE-2026-35349 HIGH
7.7 Apr 22

Bypass of --preserve-root protection in uutils coreutils rm utility allows local users to recursively delete the root fi

CVE-2026-93658 HIGH
7.3 Sep 18

Local privilege escalation in uutils coreutils before 0.10.0: the `install` utility applies a requested setuid/setgid mo

CVE-2026-35381 LOW POC
3.3 Apr 22

Logic error in uutils coreutils cut utility causes incorrect behavior when combining the -s (only-delimited), -z (null-t

CVE-2026-35371 LOW POC
3.3 Apr 22

The id utility in uutils coreutils displays incorrect effective user information in its pretty-print output when real an

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