Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2011-5054

kcheckpass passes a user-supplied argument to the pam_start function, often within a setuid environment, which allows local users to invoke any configured PAM stack, and possibly trigger unintended side effects, via an arbitrary valid PAM service name, a different vulnerability than CVE-2011-4122. NOTE: the vendor indicates that the possibility of resultant privilege escalation may be "a bit far-fetched."

Security Impact Summary

CVE-2011-5054 is a security vulnerability that . Impacting 1 product from kde organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

Documented in 2012, this vulnerability occurred amid the cloud computing expansion era, where traditional network perimeter security models were being reevaluated. Organizations were transitioning from isolated infrastructure to interconnected systems, creating new attack surfaces that vulnerabilities like this could exploit.

Published

2012-01-06T21:55:01.217

Last Modified

2025-04-11T00:51:21.963

Status

Deferred

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv2: 6.9 (MEDIUM)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Access Vector: LOCAL
Access Complexity: MEDIUM
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: COMPLETE
Integrity Impact: COMPLETE
Availability Impact: COMPLETE

Exploitability Score

3.4

Impact Score

10.0

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-287

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Application	kde	kcheckpass	*	Yes

References

http://c-skills.blogspot.com/2011/11/openpam-trickery.html ([email protected])
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2011/12/07/3 ([email protected])
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2011/12/08/9 ([email protected])
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2011/12/23/8 ([email protected])
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2011/12/27/1 ([email protected])
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2011/12/27/3 ([email protected])
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2011/12/28/5 ([email protected])
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/01/02/10 ([email protected])
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/01/02/11 ([email protected])
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/72230 ([email protected])
http://c-skills.blogspot.com/2011/11/openpam-trickery.html (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2011/12/07/3 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2011/12/08/9 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2011/12/23/8 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2011/12/27/1 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2011/12/27/3 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2011/12/28/5 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/01/02/10 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/01/02/11 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/72230 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For kde's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.