CVE-2005-2959

Exp

Incomplete blacklist vulnerability in sudo 1.6.8 and earlier allows local users to gain privileges via the (1) SHELLOPTS and (2) PS4 environment variables before executing a bash script on behalf of another user, which are not cleared even though other variables are.

Published: 2005-10-25 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2005-2959 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.62%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2005-2959

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2005-2959

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.10% 0.62% +0.53%
2 2025-03-17 0.35% 0.10% -0.25%
3 2024-12-17 — 0.35% —

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2005-2959

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.6 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 3.9 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2005-2959

OS Trackers for CVE-2005-2959

vendor priority summary link
debian medium CVE-2005-2959 medium priority: Debian including 1 source packages (sudo), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2005-2959
redhat — — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2005-2959
ubuntu medium CVE-2005-2959 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (sudo), 4 status rows across 4 suites (dapper, edgy, feisty, upstream): released 3, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2005-2959

Vendor comments (NVD) for CVE-2005-2959

  • Red Hat (2006-08-30T00:00:00)

    We do not consider this to be a security issue: http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=139478#c1

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2005-2959

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
todd_miller sudo 1.6 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.1 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.2 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.3 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.3_p1 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.3_p1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.3_p2 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.3_p2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.3_p3 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.3_p3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.3_p4 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.3_p4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.3_p5 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.3_p5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.3_p6 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.3_p6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.3_p7 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.3_p7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.3p1 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.3p1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.3p2 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.3p2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.3p3 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.3p3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.3p4 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.3p4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.3p5 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.3p5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.3p6 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.3p6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.3p7 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.3p7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.4 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.4_p1 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.4_p1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.4_p2 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.4_p2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.4p1 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.4p1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.4p2 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.4p2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.5 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.5_p1 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.5_p1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.5_p2 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.5_p2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.5p1 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.5p1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.5p2 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.5p2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.6 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.7 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.7_p5 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.7_p5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
todd_miller sudo 1.6.8 cpe:2.3:a:todd_miller:sudo:1.6.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2005-2959

URL Tags
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305214
http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2007/Mar/msg00002.html
http://secunia.com/advisories/17318 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/17322 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/17345 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/17390 Patch Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/17666 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/18549 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/24479 Vendor Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-870 Patch Vendor Advisory
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDKSA-2005:201
http://www.novell.com/linux/security/advisories/2006_02_sr.html
http://www.openpkg.org/security/OpenPKG-SA-2006.002-sudo.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/advisories/9643 Vendor Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/15191 Exploit
http://www.sudo.ws/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=182
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA07-072A.html US Government Resource
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2007/0930 Vendor Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/213-1/
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