Skip to main content

Ubuntu CVE-2024-5290

HIGH
Uncontrolled Search Path Element (CWE-427)
2024-08-07 security@ubuntu.com
7.8
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
View

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A08:2025 - Software or Data Integrity Failures
ASVS 5.0
V13 - Configuration Search path element control
Impact

CVSS score of 7.8 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: local attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction not required. Public proof-of-concept exploit code is available.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

Successful exploitation could compromise the high-severity affected system.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
No patch listed yet 0.7% exploitation probability (EPSS)

Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.

Alert me

AnalysisAI

An issue was discovered in Ubuntu wpa_supplicant that resulted in loading of arbitrary shared objects, which allows a local unprivileged attacker to escalate privileges to the user that. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.8), this vulnerability is low attack complexity. Public exploit code available and 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

Find out whether the stacks and servers you run are on an affected version.

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-427. An issue was discovered in Ubuntu wpa_supplicant that resulted in loading of arbitrary shared objects, which allows a local unprivileged attacker to escalate privileges to the user that wpa_supplicant runs as (usually root). Membership in the netdev group or access to the dbus interface of wpa_supplicant allow an unprivileged user to specify an arbitrary path to a module to be loaded by the wpa_supplicant process; other escalation paths might exist. Affected products include: W1.Fi Wpa Supplicant.

Know when Wpa Supplicant gets its next vulnerability

  • Watch products and get an email when something new is published
  • Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

No credit card · 7-day full trial

Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY 7.8 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.

CVSS VectorNVD

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

DescriptionNVD

An issue was discovered in Ubuntu wpa_supplicant that resulted in loading of arbitrary shared objects, which allows a local unprivileged attacker to escalate privileges to the user that wpa_supplicant runs as (usually root).

Membership in the netdev group or access to the dbus interface of wpa_supplicant allow an unprivileged user to specify an arbitrary path to a module to be loaded by the wpa_supplicant process; other escalation paths might exist.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.7%
Top 53% exploitable
Exploit
POC
Public exploit code exists
Data Quality
2 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 HIGH
CISA KEV No
Public POC Yes
EPSS 0.7%
Patch available No
Active threat No
Deciding rule
HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)
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
Scheduled
Exploitation· derived
Poc
System Exposure· derived
Small
Automatable· derived
No
Human Impact· derived
Medium

Priority Score

60
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: +1
CVSS: +39
PoC: +20
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

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

Affected Products (CPE)NVD

cpe:2.3:a:w1.fi:wpa_supplicant:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
CVE-2017-13082 HIGH POC
8.1 Oct 17

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA and WPA2) that supports IEEE 802.11r allows reinstallation of the Pairwise Transient Key (PT

CVE-2015-0210 MEDIUM POC
5.9 Aug 28

wpa_supplicant 2.0-16 does not properly check certificate subject name, which allows remote attackers to cause a man-in-

CVE-2019-9499 HIGH
8.1 Apr 17

The implementations of EAP-PWD in wpa_supplicant EAP Peer, when built against a crypto library missing explicit validati

CVE-2019-9498 HIGH
8.1 Apr 17

The implementations of EAP-PWD in hostapd EAP Server, when built against a crypto library missing explicit validation on

CVE-2019-9497 HIGH
8.1 Apr 17

The implementations of EAP-PWD in hostapd EAP Server and wpa_supplicant EAP Peer do not validate the scalar and element

CVE-2014-3686 MEDIUM
6.8 Oct 16

wpa_supplicant and hostapd 0.7.2 through 2.2, when running with certain configurations and using wpa_cli or hostapd_cli

CVE-2016-4476 HIGH
7.5 May 09

hostapd 0.6.7 through 2.5 and wpa_supplicant 0.6.7 through 2.5 do not reject \n and \r characters in passphrase paramete

CVE-2015-1863 MEDIUM
5.8 Apr 28

Heap-based buffer overflow in wpa_supplicant 1.0 through 2.4 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash

CVE-2021-27803 HIGH
7.5 Feb 26

A vulnerability was discovered in how p2p/p2p_pd.c in wpa_supplicant before 2.10 processes P2P (Wi-Fi Direct) provision

CVE-2019-9496 HIGH
7.5 Apr 17

An invalid authentication sequence could result in the hostapd process terminating due to missing state validation steps

CVE-2017-13084 MEDIUM
6.8 Oct 17

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA and WPA2) allows reinstallation of the Station-To-Station-Link (STSL) Transient Key (STK) du

CVE-2017-13077 MEDIUM
6.8 Oct 17

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA and WPA2) allows reinstallation of the Pairwise Transient Key (PTK) Temporal Key (TK) during

This site uses cookies essential for authentication and security. No tracking or analytics cookies are used. Privacy Policy