Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2015-1336

The daily mandb cleanup job in Man-db before 2.7.6.1-1 as packaged in Ubuntu and Debian allows local users with access to the man account to gain privileges via vectors involving insecure chown use.

Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a HIGH severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.8, requiring local system access to exploit with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction requiring only low-level privileges . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), integrity (unauthorized modifications), and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 3 products from man-db_project, from canonical, from debian organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

First disclosed in 2017, this vulnerability was reported during a period defined by widespread IoT adoption challenges, mobile security concerns, and the emergence of advanced persistent threat (APT) techniques. Contemporary mitigation strategies focused on secure development practices and third-party component vetting.

Published

2017-09-28T01:29:00.420

Last Modified

2025-04-20T01:37:25.860

Status

Deferred

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.0: 7.8 (HIGH)

CVSSv2 Vector

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

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

Exploitability Score

3.9

Impact Score

10.0

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-284

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Application	man-db_project	man-db	≤ 2.7.6.1	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	12.04	No
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	14.04	No
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	16.04	No
Application	man-db_project	man-db	≤ 2.7.6.1	Yes
Operating System	debian	debian_linux	8.0	No
Operating System	debian	debian_linux	9.0	No

References

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/140759/Man-db-2.6.7.1-Privilege-Escalation.html Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
http://people.canonical.com/~ubuntu-security/cve/2015/CVE-2015-1336.html Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.halfdog.net/Security/2015/MandbSymlinkLocalRootPrivilegeEscalation/ Exploit, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/12/14/11 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/79723 Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=840357 Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/man-db/+bug/1482786 Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201707-12 Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/140759/Man-db-2.6.7.1-Privilege-Escalation.html Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://people.canonical.com/~ubuntu-security/cve/2015/CVE-2015-1336.html Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.halfdog.net/Security/2015/MandbSymlinkLocalRootPrivilegeEscalation/ Exploit, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/12/14/11 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/79723 Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=840357 Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/man-db/+bug/1482786 Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201707-12 Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (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 man-db_project'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.