CVE-2017-20002

HIGH

Debian shadow <4.5-1 - Privilege Escalation

Title source: llm

Description

The Debian shadow package before 1:4.5-1 for Shadow incorrectly lists pts/0 and pts/1 as physical terminals in /etc/securetty. This allows local users to login as password-less users even if they are connected by non-physical means such as SSH (hence bypassing PAM's nullok_secure configuration). This notably affects environments such as virtual machines automatically generated with a default blank root password, allowing all local users to escalate privileges.

Scores

CVSS v3 7.8
EPSS 0.0005
EPSS Percentile 15.9%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Classification

CWE
CWE-269
Status published

Affected Products (2)

debian/shadow
debian/debian_linux

Timeline

Published Mar 17, 2021
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026