Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2016-2568

pkexec, when used with --user nonpriv, allows local users to escape to the parent session via a crafted TIOCSTI ioctl call, which pushes characters to the terminal's input buffer.

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 but requires specific conditions to be met 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 2 products from freedesktop, from redhat 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

2017-02-13T18:59:00.393

Last Modified

2026-10-08T22:16:38.407

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 7.8 (HIGH)

CVSSv2 Vector

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

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

Exploitability Score

3.4

Impact Score

6.4

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-116

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Application	freedesktop	polkit	*	Yes
Operating System	redhat	enterprise_linux	6.0	Yes
Operating System	redhat	enterprise_linux	7.0	Yes

References

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/02/26/3 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2016-2568 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=816062 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1300746 Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-2568 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/02/26/3 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2016-2568 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=816062 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1300746 Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-2568 Third Party Advisory (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 freedesktop'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.