shadow-utils: newgidmap allows unprivileged user to drop supplementary groups potentially allowing privilege escalation
Published Feb 15, 2018
5.3
MEDIUMCVSS 3.0
EPSS 1.57%
Description
An issue was discovered in shadow 4.5. newgidmap (in shadow-utils) is setuid and allows an unprivileged user to be placed in a user namespace where setgroups(2) is permitted. This allows an attacker to remove themselves from a supplementary group, which may allow access to certain filesystem paths if the administrator has used "group blacklisting" (e.g., chmod g-rwx) to restrict access to paths. This flaw effectively reverts a security feature in the kernel (in particular, the /proc/self/setgroups knob) to prevent this sort of privilege escalation.
Affected products
No data.
- 4.5
No data.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
shadow-utils
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
shadow-utils
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
shadow-utils
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
shadow-utils
Not affected
| Product | Package | State | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 | shadow-utils | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | shadow-utils | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | shadow-utils | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | shadow-utils | Not affected | n/a |
No package ranges for this CVE.
Remediation
Red Hat statement
This issue did not affect the versions of shadow-utils as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, 6 and 7 as they did not provide newgidmap program.
Metrics
No CVSS v4.0 score for this CVE.
No CVSS v3.1 score for this CVE.
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
1 other source (Red Hat) ▾
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N
This CVE is not in the KEV list.
No CISA SSVC assessment for this CVE yet.
Estimated probability of exploitation in the wild in the next 30 days (FIRST EPSS). As of Oct 1, 2026.
Score over time
2021–2026- EPSS v1
- EPSS v5
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
Percentile over time
- EPSS v1
- EPSS v5
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
Table of values (9 key points)
Flat stretches are collapsed; showing up to 120 newest points.
| Date | Score | Percentile | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | 1.57% (0.01566) | 74.40th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Aug 23, 2026 | 1.69% (0.01694) | 74.99th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jul 20, 2024 | 0.08% (0.00081) | 35.04th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| May 22, 2024 | 0.08% (0.00081) | 34.41th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 7, 2023 | 0.08% (0.00079) | 32.30th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 6, 2023 | 0.89% (0.00885) | 27.89th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 4, 2022 | 0.89% (0.00885) | 10.50th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 3, 2022 | 0.62% (0.00624) | 17.80th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Apr 14, 2021 | 0.62% (0.00624) | 0.00th | v1 |
References (6)
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-7169 Vendor Advisory
- https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/shadow/+bug/1729357 x_refsource_MISCExploitIssue TrackingThird Party Advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1546241 Issue Tracking
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-7169
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201805-09 vendor-advisoryx_refsource_GENTOOThird Party Advisory
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-7169
| Link | Providers | Tags |
|---|---|---|
| https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-7169 | Vendor Advisory | |
| https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/shadow/+bug/1729357 | x_refsource_MISCExploitIssue TrackingThird Party Advisory | |
| https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1546241 | Issue Tracking | |
| https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-7169 | ||
| https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201805-09 | vendor-advisoryx_refsource_GENTOOThird Party Advisory | |
| https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-7169 |
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.