CVE-2010-4170

Exp

The staprun runtime tool in SystemTap 1.3 does not properly clear the environment before executing modprobe, which allows local users to gain privileges by setting the MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment variable to specify a malicious configuration file.

Published: 2010-12-07 Last update: 2026-04-29 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2010-4170 is rated High Exploit Risk (70.6/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 4.84%, 91th percentile). Core evidence: 4 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: 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-2010-4170

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
46730 exploit_db edb 2019-04-19 Exploit-DB ↗
15620 exploit_db edb 2010-11-26 Exploit-DB ↗
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2010-4170

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 24.08% 4.84% -19.24%
2 2025-03-30 16.69% 24.08% +7.39%
3 2025-03-29 16.69%

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2010-4170

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.2 2.0 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C 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:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
3.9 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2010-4170

OS Trackers for CVE-2010-4170

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2010-4170 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (systemtap), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2010-4170
redhat high https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2010-4170
suse high CVE-2010-4170 severity important: SUSE including 4 source package names (systemtap, systemtap-runtime, systemtap-sdt-devel, systemtap-server), 15 product×package rows across 8 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 for Teradata, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 LTSS, … (8 product lines)): Known Not Affected 15. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2010-4170/
ubuntu high CVE-2010-4170 high priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (systemtap), 6 status rows across 6 suites (dapper, hardy, karmic, lucid, maverick, upstream): not-affected 3, DNE 1, needs-triage 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2010-4170

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2010-4170

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
systemtap systemtap 1.3 cpe:2.3:a:systemtap:systemtap:1.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2010-4170

URL Tags
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2010-November/051115.html
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2010-November/051122.html
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2010-November/051127.html
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/152569/SystemTap-1.3-MODPROBE_OPTIONS-Privilege-Escalation.html
http://secunia.com/advisories/42256 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/42263 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/42306 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/42318 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/46920
http://sources.redhat.com/git/gitweb.cgi?p=systemtap.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=b7565b41228bea196cefa3a7d43ab67f8f9152e2
http://sources.redhat.com/ml/systemtap/2010-q4/msg00230.html
http://www.debian.org/security/2011/dsa-2348
http://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/15620 Exploit
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2010-0894.html
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2010-0895.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/44914 Exploit
http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1024754
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/63344
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/46730/
cvelogic Threat Intelligence