Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2015-3246

libuser before 0.56.13-8 and 0.60 before 0.60-7, as used in the userhelper program in the usermode package, directly modifies /etc/passwd, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (inconsistent file state) by causing an error during the modification. NOTE: this issue can be combined with CVE-2015-3245 to gain privileges.

Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.1, requiring local system access to exploit but requires specific conditions to be met without requiring user interaction and does not require pre-existing privileges . The vulnerability impacts and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 3 products from redhat, from opensuse, from libuser_project organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

First disclosed in 2015, 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

2015-08-11T14:59:07.040

Last Modified

2026-08-27T04:16:36.600

Status

Analyzed

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 5.1 (MEDIUM)

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-264
Type: Secondary
CWE-367

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Operating System	redhat	enterprise_linux	5.0	Yes
Operating System	redhat	enterprise_linux	6.0	Yes
Operating System	redhat	enterprise_linux	7.0	Yes
Operating System	opensuse	opensuse	13.2	Yes
Application	libuser_project	libuser	< 0.56.13-8	Yes
Application	libuser_project	libuser	< 0.60-7	Yes

References

http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2015-August/163044.html Broken Link ([email protected])
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2015-July/162947.html Broken Link ([email protected])
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2015-08/msg00000.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2015-1482.html Vendor Advisory ([email protected])
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2015-1483.html Vendor Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/76022 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1033040 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://access.redhat.com/articles/1537873 Mitigation, Vendor Advisory ([email protected])
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/44633/ Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
https://www.qualys.com/2015/07/23/cve-2015-3245-cve-2015-3246/cve-2015-3245-cve-2015-3246.txt Exploit ([email protected])
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2015-August/163044.html Broken Link (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2015-July/162947.html Broken Link (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2015-08/msg00000.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2015-1482.html Vendor Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2015-1483.html Vendor Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/76022 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1033040 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://access.redhat.com/articles/1537873 Mitigation, Vendor Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/44633/ Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://www.qualys.com/2015/07/23/cve-2015-3245-cve-2015-3246/cve-2015-3245-cve-2015-3246.txt Exploit (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://blog.talosintelligence.com/uat-10147-chinese-speaking-adversary-integrates-agentic-ai-into-post-compromise-operations/ Third Party Advisory (134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0)
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2015-3246 US Government Resource (134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0)

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 redhat'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.