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Medium

Security advisory

Type: advisorySources: OSVCVE: CVE-2017-2616

A race condition was found in util-linux before 2.32.1 in the way su handled the management of child processes. A local authenticated attacker could use this flaw to kill other processes with root privileges under specific conditions.

Products
Not specified
Affected versions
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Fixed versions
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CVEs
CVE-2017-2616
Confirmed fixed CVEs
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Updated in this feed
31 Oct 2026, 12:14 UTC · Revision 1

Source evidence

CVE-2017-2616

core-osv · Original source

Published 27 Jul 2018, 19:29 UTC

A race condition was found in util-linux before 2.32.1 in the way su handled the management of child processes. A local authenticated attacker could use this flaw to kill other processes with root privileges under specific conditions.

osv:CVE-2017-2616
Complete source record
{
  "id": "38106ad4510f77772fb0b79596192be95c981980338a492444cfea8467cbf4c3",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-2616",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "CVE-2017-2616",
    "summary": "A race condition was found in util-linux before 2.32.1 in the way su handled the management of child processes. A local authenticated attacker could use this flaw to kill other processes with root privileges under specific conditions.",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2017-2616",
    "products": [],
    "severity": "medium",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2017-2616",
      "aliases": [
        "CVE-2017-2616"
      ],
      "metrics": [
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          "type": "CVSS_V3",
          "score": "CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
        }
      ],
      "affected": [
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              "type": "GIT",
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                },
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                  "introduced": "e6a72859700384a7e0565472ecf5c48a6392be0e"
                },
                {
                  "last_affected": "e6a72859700384a7e0565472ecf5c48a6392be0e"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "dffab154d29a288aa171ff50263ecc8f2e14a891"
                }
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              "database_specific": {
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                        "introduced": "0"
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                      {
                        "fixed": "2.32.1"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "CPE_RANGE"
                  },
                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "range": [
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                        "introduced": "7.0"
                      },
                      {
                        "last_affected": "7.0"
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                    ],
                    "source": "CPE_STRING"
                  },
                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
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                    "source": "CPE_STRING"
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                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "range": [
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                      {
                        "last_affected": "7.0"
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                  },
                  {
                    "range": [
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                        "fixed": "dffab154d29a288aa171ff50263ecc8f2e14a891"
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                    "source": "REFERENCES_COMMIT"
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                ]
              }
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          ],
          "versions": [
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            "v2.28-rc2",
            "v2.28-rc1",
            "v2.27",
            "v2.27-rc2",
            "v2.27-rc1",
            "v2.26",
            "v2.26-rc2",
            "v2.26-rc1",
            "v2.25",
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            "v2.25-rc1",
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            "7.0-start",
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            "v2.22-rc2",
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            "v2.21",
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            "v2.20",
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            "v2.20-rc1",
            "v2.19",
            "v2.19-rc3",
            "v2.19-rc2",
            "v2.19-rc1",
            "v2.18",
            "v2.18-rc2",
            "v2.18-rc1",
            "v2.17",
            "v2.17-rc3",
            "v2.17-rc2",
            "v2.17-rc1",
            "v2.16",
            "v2.16-rc2",
            "v2.16-rc1",
            "v2.15",
            "v2.15-rc2",
            "v2.15-rc1",
            "v2.14",
            "v2.14-rc3",
            "v2.14-rc2",
            "v2.14-rc1",
            "v2.13",
            "v2.13-rc3",
            "v2.13-rc2",
            "v2.13-rc1",
            "v2.13-pre7",
            "v2.13-pre6",
            "v2.13-pre5",
            "v2.13-pre4",
            "v2.13-pre3",
            "v2.13-pre2",
            "v2.13-pre1",
            "v2.12r",
            "v2.12r-pre1",
            "v2.12q",
            "v2.12q-pre2",
            "v2.12q-pre1",
            "v2.12p",
            "v2.12o",
            "v2.12m",
            "v2.12l",
            "v2.12k",
            "v2.12j",
            "v2.12i",
            "v2.12h",
            "v2.12d",
            "v2.12b",
            "v2.12a",
            "v2.12pre",
            "v2.12",
            "v2.11y",
            "v2.11x",
            "v2.11w",
            "v2.11v",
            "v2.11u",
            "v2.11t",
            "v2.11r",
            "v2.11q",
            "v2.11o",
            "v2.11n",
            "v2.11m",
            "v2.11f",
            "v2.11b",
            "v2.10s",
            "v2.10m",
            "v2.10f",
            "v2.9v",
            "v2.9i",
            "v2.8",
            "v2.7.1",
            "v2.5",
            "v2.2"
          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2017-2616.json",
            "vanir_signatures": [
              {
                "id": "CVE-2017-2616-2c18f385",
                "digest": {
                  "threshold": 0.9,
                  "line_hashes": [
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                    "231859714326979121881491685551060707006",
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                  ]
                },
                "source": "https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/commit/dffab154d29a288aa171ff50263ecc8f2e14a891",
                "target": {
                  "file": "login-utils/su-common.c"
                },
                "deprecated": false,
                "signature_type": "Line",
                "signature_version": "v1"
              },
              {
                "id": "CVE-2017-2616-f61c0019",
                "digest": {
                  "length": 2743,
                  "function_hash": "315096434462509264335874598434674430021"
                },
                "source": "https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/commit/dffab154d29a288aa171ff50263ecc8f2e14a891",
                "target": {
                  "file": "login-utils/su-common.c",
                  "function": "create_watching_parent"
                },
                "deprecated": false,
                "signature_type": "Function",
                "signature_version": "v1"
              }
            ],
            "vanir_signatures_modified": "2026-10-20T13:23:29Z"
          }
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      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-20T13:23:29.708596095Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0907",
        "https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201706-02",
        "https://www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-3793",
        "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2017-2616",
        "https://github.com/karelzak/util-linux/commit/dffab154d29a288aa171ff50263ecc8f2e14a891"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {
        "unresolved_ranges": [
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            "cpes": [
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            ],
            "vendor_product": "debian:debian_linux",
            "extracted_events": [
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                "range": [
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                    "introduced": "8.0"
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                  {
                    "last_affected": "8.0"
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                "source": "CPE_STRING"
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            "vendor_product": "redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop",
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                    "introduced": "6.0"
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                ],
                "source": "CPE_STRING"
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          {
            "cpes": [
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            ],
            "vendor_product": "redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus",
            "extracted_events": [
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                "range": [
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                    "introduced": "7.3"
                  },
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                    "last_affected": "7.3"
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                  {
                    "introduced": "7.4"
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                    "last_affected": "7.4"
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                ],
                "source": "CPE_STRING"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "cpes": [
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              "cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
              "cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
            ],
            "vendor_product": "redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus",
            "extracted_events": [
              {
                "range": [
                  {
                    "introduced": "7.3"
                  },
                  {
                    "last_affected": "7.3"
                  },
                  {
                    "introduced": "7.4"
                  },
                  {
                    "last_affected": "7.4"
                  },
                  {
                    "introduced": "7.5"
                  },
                  {
                    "last_affected": "7.5"
                  }
                ],
                "source": "CPE_STRING"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "cpes": [
              "cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
            ],
            "vendor_product": "redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation",
            "extracted_events": [
              {
                "range": [
                  {
                    "introduced": "6.0"
                  },
                  {
                    "last_affected": "6.0"
                  }
                ],
                "source": "CPE_STRING"
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2017-2616",
        "evidence": "/id"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 387612,
  "published_at": "2018-07-27T19:29:00.207+00:00"
}