CVE-2020-15238

HIGH

Blueman < 2.1.4 - Command Injection via DhcpClient D-Bus Method

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 1 public exploit for CVE-2020-15238. PoCs published by Vaisha Bernard.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This exploit leverages an argument injection vulnerability in Blueman's D-Bus interface to achieve local privilege escalation (LPE) when dhcpcd is used instead of dhclient. The unsanitized input allows command injection via the DhcpClient method, enabling arbitrary command execution as root.

Description

Blueman is a GTK+ Bluetooth Manager. In Blueman before 2.1.4, the DhcpClient method of the D-Bus interface to blueman-mechanism is prone to an argument injection vulnerability. The impact highly depends on the system configuration. If Polkit-1 is disabled and for versions lower than 2.0.6, any local user can possibly exploit this. If Polkit-1 is enabled for version 2.0.6 and later, a possible attacker needs to be allowed to use the `org.blueman.dhcp.client` action. That is limited to users in the wheel group in the shipped rules file that do have the privileges anyway. On systems with ISC DHCP client (dhclient), attackers can pass arguments to `ip link` with the interface name that can e.g. be used to bring down an interface or add an arbitrary XDP/BPF program. On systems with dhcpcd and without ISC DHCP client, attackers can even run arbitrary scripts by passing `-c/path/to/script` as an interface name. Patches are included in 2.1.4 and master that change the DhcpClient D-Bus method(s) to accept BlueZ network object paths instead of network interface names. A backport to 2.0(.8) is also available. As a workaround, make sure that Polkit-1-support is enabled and limit privileges for the `org.blueman.dhcp.client` action to users that are able to run arbitrary commands as root anyway in /usr/share/polkit-1/rules.d/blueman.rules.

Exploits (1)

exploitdb WORKING POC
by Vaisha Bernard · textlocallinux
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/48963

This exploit leverages an argument injection vulnerability in Blueman's D-Bus interface to achieve local privilege escalation (LPE) when dhcpcd is used instead of dhclient. The unsanitized input allows command injection via the DhcpClient method, enabling arbitrary command execution as root.

Classification
Working Poc 100%
Attack Type
Lpe
Complexity
Trivial
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Blueman < 2.1.4
No auth needed
Prerequisites: dhcpcd installed instead of dhclient · Blueman < 2.1.4 installed · Access to the system D-Bus interface
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →

References (10)

Core 10
Core References
Exploit, Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_misc
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/blueman/+bug/1897287
Third Party Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_debian
https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4781
Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry x_refsource_misc
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/159740/Blueman-Local-Root-Privilege-Escalation.html
Mailing List, Third Party Advisory mailing-list x_refsource_mlist
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/11/msg00005.html
Third Party Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_gentoo
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202011-11

Scores

CVSS v3 7.1
EPSS 0.0454
EPSS Percentile 90.3%
Attack Vector NETWORK
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:L

Details

CWE
CWE-74 CWE-88
Status published
Products (6)
blueman_project/blueman < 2.1.4
debian/debian_linux 9.0
debian/debian_linux 10.0
fedoraproject/fedora 31
fedoraproject/fedora 32
fedoraproject/fedora 33
Published Oct 27, 2020
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026