CVE-2020-27780

CRITICAL IN THE WILD

Linux-PAM < 1.5.1 - Improper Authentication for Non-Existing Users with Empty Passwords

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

CVE-2020-27780 has been observed exploited in the wild (reported by InTheWild.io).

Description

A flaw was found in Linux-Pam in versions prior to 1.5.1 in the way it handle empty passwords for non-existing users. When the user doesn't exist PAM try to authenticate with root and in the case of an empty password it successfully authenticate.

References (1)

Core 1
Core References
Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_misc
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1901094

Scores

CVSS v3 9.8
EPSS 0.0196
EPSS Percentile 77.8%
Attack Vector NETWORK
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Details

InTheWild.io 2020-11-25
CWE
CWE-287
Status published
Products (1)
linux-pam/linux-pam 1.5.0 - 1.5.1
Published Dec 18, 2020
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026