CVE-2000-0703

perl - Local Privilege Escalation via suidperl Escape Sequence Injection

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 2 public exploits for CVE-2000-0703. PoCs published by Michal Zalewski, Sebastian Krahmer.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This exploit leverages a race condition in suidperl combined with an undocumented feature in /bin/mail to execute arbitrary commands as root. It creates a malicious filename with embedded shell commands and triggers suidperl's security check failure to send a mail notification, which then executes the commands via the 'interactive' environment variable.

Description

suidperl (aka sperl) does not properly cleanse the escape sequence "~!" before calling /bin/mail to send an error report, which allows local users to gain privileges by setting the "interactive" environmental variable and calling suidperl with a filename that contains the escape sequence.

Exploits (2)

exploitdb WORKING POC VERIFIED
by Michal Zalewski · bashlocallinux
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/20142

This exploit leverages a race condition in suidperl combined with an undocumented feature in /bin/mail to execute arbitrary commands as root. It creates a malicious filename with embedded shell commands and triggers suidperl's security check failure to send a mail notification, which then executes the commands via the 'interactive' environment variable.

Classification
Working Poc 100%
Attack Type
Lpe
Complexity
Complex
Reliability
Racy
Target: suidperl 5.00503 (and newer)
No auth needed
Prerequisites: suidperl binary with setuid bit · writable working directory · setuid binary (e.g., /usr/bin/passwd) · compiler (gcc) and make utility
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →
exploitdb WORKING POC VERIFIED
by Sebastian Krahmer · perllocallinux
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/20141

This exploit leverages a race condition in suidperl combined with an undocumented feature in /bin/mail to execute arbitrary commands as root. The attack involves manipulating symlinks and environment variables to trigger a root shell via /bin/mail's interactive mode.

Classification
Working Poc 100%
Attack Type
Lpe
Complexity
Complex
Reliability
Racy
Target: suidperl 5.00503 (and newer)
No auth needed
Prerequisites: suidperl with setuid bit set · writable /tmp directory · presence of /bin/mail with interactive feature
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →

References (9)

Core 9
Core References
Exploit, Patch, Vendor Advisory vdb-entry x_refsource_bid
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/1547
Vendor Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_redhat
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2000-048.html
Patch, Vendor Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_caldera
http://www.calderasystems.com/support/security/advisories/CSSA-2000-026.0.txt
Third Party Advisory mailing-list x_refsource_bugtraq
http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/bugtraq/2000-08/0086.html
Third Party Advisory mailing-list x_refsource_bugtraq
http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/bugtraq/2000-08/0153.html
Exploit, Vendor Advisory mailing-list x_refsource_bugtraq
http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/bugtraq/2000-08/0022.html
Third Party Advisory mailing-list x_refsource_bugtraq
http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/bugtraq/2000-08/0113.html

Scores

EPSS 0.0111
EPSS Percentile 61.7%

Details

Status published
Products (4)
larry_wall/perl 5.4.5
larry_wall/perl 5.5
larry_wall/perl 5.5.3
larry_wall/perl 5.6
Published Oct 20, 2000
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026