CVE-2016-8641

MEDIUM

Nagios 4.2.x - Privilege Escalation

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 1 public exploit for CVE-2016-8641. PoCs published by Vincent Malguy.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This exploit leverages a privilege escalation vulnerability in Nagios 4.2.2 and prior by manipulating symlinks to gain root access. It compiles a shared library to hijack the `geteuid` function, creating a SUID root shell.

Description

A privilege escalation vulnerability was found in nagios 4.2.x that occurs in daemon-init.in when creating necessary files and insecurely changing the ownership afterwards. It's possible for the local attacker to create symbolic links before the files are to be created and possibly escalating the privileges with the ownership change.

Exploits (1)

exploitdb WORKING POC VERIFIED
by Vincent Malguy · bashlocallinux
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40774

This exploit leverages a privilege escalation vulnerability in Nagios 4.2.2 and prior by manipulating symlinks to gain root access. It compiles a shared library to hijack the `geteuid` function, creating a SUID root shell.

Classification
Working Poc 100%
Attack Type
Lpe
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Nagios 4.2.2 and prior
Auth required
Prerequisites: Access to the nagios user account · Nagios service running as root · GCC compiler available
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →

References (5)

Core 5
Core References
Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry exploit x_refsource_exploit-db
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40774/
Issue Tracking, Patch, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_confirm
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2016-8641
Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry vdb-entry x_refsource_bid
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/95121
Third Party Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_gentoo
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201702-26

Scores

CVSS v3 6.7
EPSS 0.0115
EPSS Percentile 62.8%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Details

CWE
CWE-59
Status published
Products (4)
nagios/nagios 4.2.0
nagios/nagios 4.2.1
nagios/nagios 4.2.2
nagios/nagios 4.2.3
Published Aug 01, 2018
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026