Linux-PAM before 1.0.4 does not enforce the minimum password age (MINDAYS) as specified in /etc/shadow, which allows local users to bypass intended security policy and change their passwords sooner than specified.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2009-0579 is rated Low Risk (24.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.06%). 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.
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% | 0.06% | +0.02% |
| 2 | 2023-03-07 | 1.03% | 0.04% | -0.99% |
| 3 | 2023-02-13 | — | 1.03% | — |
Full EPSS history (5 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.6 | 2.0 | MEDIUM |
|
3.9 | 6.4 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
unimportant | CVE-2009-0579 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (pam), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2009-0579 |
redhat
|
low | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2009-0579 |
ubuntu
|
low | CVE-2009-0579 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (pam), 8 status rows across 8 suites (dapper, hardy, intrepid, jaunty, karmic, lucid, maverick, upstream): not-affected 5, ignored 2, released 1. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2009-0579 |
Not vulnerable. This issue did not affect the versions of pam as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1, 3, 4, or 5. Only PAM versions 1.x were affected.
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux-pam | linux-pam | <= 1.0.4 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux-pam | linux-pam | 0.99.1.0 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:0.99.1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux-pam | linux-pam | 0.99.2.0 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:0.99.2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux-pam | linux-pam | 0.99.2.1 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:0.99.2.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux-pam | linux-pam | 0.99.3.0 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:0.99.3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux-pam | linux-pam | 0.99.4.0 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:0.99.4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux-pam | linux-pam | 0.99.5.0 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:0.99.5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux-pam | linux-pam | 0.99.6.0 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:0.99.6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux-pam | linux-pam | 0.99.6.1 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:0.99.6.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux-pam | linux-pam | 0.99.6.2 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:0.99.6.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux-pam | linux-pam | 0.99.6.3 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:0.99.6.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux-pam | linux-pam | 0.99.7.0 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:0.99.7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux-pam | linux-pam | 0.99.7.1 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:0.99.7.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux-pam | linux-pam | 0.99.8.0 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:0.99.8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux-pam | linux-pam | 0.99.8.1 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:0.99.8.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux-pam | linux-pam | 0.99.9.0 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:0.99.9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux-pam | linux-pam | 0.99.10.0 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:0.99.10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux-pam | linux-pam | 1.0.0 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:1.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux-pam | linux-pam | 1.0.1 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:1.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux-pam | linux-pam | 1.0.2 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:1.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| linux-pam | linux-pam | 1.0.3 | cpe:2.3:a:linux-pam:linux-pam:1.0.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |