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Accountsservice CVE-2022-1804

MEDIUM
Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269)
2025-03-25 security@ubuntu.com
Privilege Escalation Canonical Ubuntu Linux Suse Accountsservice
5.5
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
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Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
CWE-269
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Least privilege enforcement
MITRE ATT&CK

1 technique across 1 tactic: Privilege Escalation

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

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Impact

CVSS score of 5.5 (MEDIUM). Attack characteristics: local attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction not required. EPSS exploitation probability: 0.02%.
Exploit ScenarioDerived

A local attacker with access to the system could escalate privileges to gain unauthorized elevated access.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
Patch available 0.0% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Mar 28, 2026

accountsservice no longer drops permissions when writting .pam_environment. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.5), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. This Improper Privilege Management vulnerability could allow attackers to escalate privileges to gain unauthorized elevated access.

Earlier versions of this analysis (1)
v1 Mar 28, 2026 - 18:33 CVSS 5.5

RemediationAI

A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Apply principle of least privilege, validate privilege transitions, implement proper role separation.

Affects your stack

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Technical ContextAI · show details

This vulnerability is classified as Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269), which allows attackers to escalate privileges to gain unauthorized elevated access. accountsservice no longer drops permissions when writting .pam_environment Affected products include: Canonical Accountsservice, Canonical Ubuntu Linux.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY 5.5 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
SUSE MEDIUM

Primary rating from NVD.

CVSS VectorNVD

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

Lifecycle Timeline

2
Patch released
Apr 01, 2026 - 08:30 nvd
Patch available
CVE Published
Mar 25, 2025 - 13:15 nvd
MEDIUM 5.5

DescriptionCVE.org

accountsservice no longer drops permissions when writting .pam_environment

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

CVE-2022-1804 presents moderate security risk, a improper privilege management vulnerability rated CVSS 5.5. Attackers could gain access beyond their authorized level. Organizations should apply vendor updates when available and monitor for exploitation.

Business Impact: Low
Compensating Controls

Apply vendor patch. If patching is delayed: restrict network access and enable monitoring.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.0%
Top 95% exploitable
Data Quality
4 sources
Confidence: Medium
NVD CVE.org EPSS MSRC Vendor

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 0.0%
Patch available Yes
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
Low

Priority Score

28
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +28
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Privilege Escalation HIGH

Privilege escalation occurs when an attacker leverages flaws in access control mechanisms to gain permissions beyond what they were originally granted.

Affected Products (CPE)CVE.org

cpe:2.3:a:canonical:accountsservice:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*

More in Accountsservice

View all
CVE-2023-3297 HIGH POC
7.8 Sep 01

In Ubuntu's accountsservice an unprivileged local attacker can trigger a use-after-free vulnerability in accountsservice
CVE-2018-14036 MEDIUM POC
6.5 Jul 13

Directory Traversal with ../ sequences occurs in AccountsService before 0.6.50 because of an insufficient path check in

CVE-2020-16127 MEDIUM POC
5.5 Nov 11

An Ubuntu-specific modification to AccountsService in versions before 0.6.55-0ubuntu13.2, among other earlier versions,

CVE-2026-61898 HIGH
7.8 Aug 20

Privilege escalation in Ubuntu's accountsservice package allows a local low-privileged user to execute arbitrary shell c
CVE-2026-61897 HIGH
7.8 Aug 20

Local privilege escalation in Ubuntu's AccountsService (before 23.13.9-8ubuntu7) lets any low-privileged local user gain
CVE-2021-3939 HIGH
7.8 Nov 17

Ubuntu-specific modifications to accountsservice (in patch file debian/patches/0010-set-language.patch) caused the fallb
CVE-2020-16126 LOW POC
3.3 Nov 11

An Ubuntu-specific modification to AccountsService in versions before 0.6.55-0ubuntu13.2, among other earlier versions,

CVE-2012-2737 LOW POC
1.9 Jul 22

The user_change_icon_file_authorized_cb function in /usr/libexec/accounts-daemon in AccountsService before 0.6.22 does n

Same weakness CWE-269 – Improper Privilege Management

View all
CVE-2017-5689 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2021-20021 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2017-12635 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2012-3993 CRITICAL POC
9.3
CVE-2017-11467 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2014-1510 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2014-1511 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2019-1405 HIGH POC
7.8

Same technique Privilege Escalation

View all
CVE-2024-0012 CRITICAL POC
9.3
CVE-2025-47812 CRITICAL POC
10.0
CVE-2013-0422 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2013-0632 CRITICAL POC
9.8
CVE-2024-9474 MEDIUM POC
6.9

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Medium
Product Status
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP7 Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Desktop Applications 15 SP7 Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP7 Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.1 Fixed

References

Advisories & patches
ADVISORY https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-5439-1 REF https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/accountsservice/+bug/1974250

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