CVE-2009-0361

Russ Allbery pam-krb5 before 3.13, as used by libpam-heimdal, su in Solaris 10, and other software, does not properly handle calls to pam_setcred when running setuid, which allows local users to overwrite and change the ownership of arbitrary files by setting the KRB5CCNAME environment variable, and then launching a setuid application that performs certain pam_setcred operations.

Published: 2009-02-13 Last update: 2026-04-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2009-0361 is rated Low Risk (25/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.07%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2009-0361

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 2025-03-17 0.04% 0.07% +0.03%
2 2023-03-07 1.55% 0.04% -1.50%
3 2022-02-04 1.55%

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2009-0361

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-2009-0361

OS Trackers for CVE-2009-0361

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2009-0361 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libpam-krb5), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2009-0361
gentoo high CVE-2009-0361: 2 GLSA(s) (200903-39, 201412-08), 27 atom(s) (app-antivirus/bitdefender-console, app-arch/gzip, …); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2009-0361
redhat https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2009-0361
ubuntu low CVE-2009-0361 low priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (libpam-heimdal, libpam-krb5), 22 status rows across 11 suites (dapper, gutsy, hardy, intrepid, jaunty, karmic, lucid, maverick, natty, oneiric, upstream): released 10, ignored 6, not-affected 5, DNE 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2009-0361

Vendor comments (NVD) for CVE-2009-0361

  • Red Hat (2009-02-13T00:00:00)

    Not vulnerable. This issue did not affect the versions of the pam_krb5 package, as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1, 3, 4, or 5.

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2009-0361

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
eyrie pam-krb5 <= 3.12 cpe:2.3:a:eyrie:pam-krb5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
eyrie pam-krb5 3.0 cpe:2.3:a:eyrie:pam-krb5:3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
eyrie pam-krb5 3.1 cpe:2.3:a:eyrie:pam-krb5:3.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
eyrie pam-krb5 3.2 cpe:2.3:a:eyrie:pam-krb5:3.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
eyrie pam-krb5 3.3 cpe:2.3:a:eyrie:pam-krb5:3.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
eyrie pam-krb5 3.4 cpe:2.3:a:eyrie:pam-krb5:3.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
eyrie pam-krb5 3.5 cpe:2.3:a:eyrie:pam-krb5:3.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
eyrie pam-krb5 3.6 cpe:2.3:a:eyrie:pam-krb5:3.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
eyrie pam-krb5 3.7 cpe:2.3:a:eyrie:pam-krb5:3.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
eyrie pam-krb5 3.8 cpe:2.3:a:eyrie:pam-krb5:3.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
eyrie pam-krb5 3.9 cpe:2.3:a:eyrie:pam-krb5:3.9:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
eyrie pam-krb5 3.10 cpe:2.3:a:eyrie:pam-krb5:3.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
eyrie pam-krb5 3.11 cpe:2.3:a:eyrie:pam-krb5:3.11:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2009-0361

URL Tags
http://secunia.com/advisories/33914 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/33917 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/33918 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/34260
http://secunia.com/advisories/34449
http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200903-39.xml
http://securitytracker.com/id?1021711
http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-66-252767-1
http://support.avaya.com/elmodocs2/security/ASA-2009-070.htm
http://www.debian.org/security/2009/dsa-1721
http://www.debian.org/security/2009/dsa-1722
http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/pam-krb5/security/2009-02-11.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/500892/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/33741
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-719-1
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/0410
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/0426
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/0979
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A5403
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A5521
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