CVE-2017-14798 | local privilege escalation in SUSE postgresql init script

Exp

A race condition in the postgresql init script could be used by attackers able to access the postgresql account to escalate their privileges to root.

Published: 2018-03-01 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2017-14798 is rated High Exploit Risk (64.5/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.98%). 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-2017-14798

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
45184 exploit_db edb 2018-08-13 Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2017-14798

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 0.81% 0.98% +0.17%
2 2026-03-11 1.19% 0.81% -0.37%
3 2026-03-04 — 1.19% —

Full EPSS history (42 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2017-14798

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.3 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.3 5.9 [email protected]
7.0 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.0 5.9 [email protected]
6.9 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:M/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:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
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.
 3.4 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2017-14798

OS Trackers for CVE-2017-14798

vendor priority summary link
suse high CVE-2017-14798 severity important: SUSE including 317 source package names (amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20210304-hvm-ssd-x86_64, amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20220127-hvm-ssd-x86_64, …), 391 product×package rows across 42 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 6, … (42 product lines)): Known Affected 231, Fixed 87, Known Not Affected 73. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-14798/
ubuntu medium CVE-2017-14798 medium priority: Ubuntu including 5 source packages (postgresql-10, postgresql-9.1, postgresql-9.3, postgresql-9.5, postgresql-9.6), 20 status rows across 4 suites (artful, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 12, not-affected 8. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2017-14798

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2017-14798

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
postgresql postgresql < 9.4-0.5.3.1 cpe:2.3:a:postgresql:postgresql:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse suse_linux_enterprise_server 11 cpe:2.3:o:suse:suse_linux_enterprise_server:11:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2017-14798

cvelogic Threat Intelligence