CVE-2017-5940

Firejail before 0.9.44.6 and 0.9.38.x LTS before 0.9.38.10 LTS does not comprehensively address dotfile cases during its attempt to prevent accessing user files with an euid of zero, which allows local users to conduct sandbox-escape attacks via vectors involving a symlink and the --private option. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2017-5180.

Published: 2017-02-09 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2017-5940 is rated Moderate Risk (45.1/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.36%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

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-2017-5940

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 0.08% 0.36% +0.27%
2 2025-11-21 0.04% 0.08% +0.04%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.04% —

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2017-5940

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.8 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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.
 2.0 6.0 [email protected]
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-2017-5940

OS Trackers for CVE-2017-5940

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2017-5940 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (firejail), 4 status rows across 4 suites (bookworm, bullseye, sid, trixie): resolved 4. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2017-5940
gentoo high CVE-2017-5940: 1 GLSA(s) (201702-03), 2 atom(s) (sys-apps/firejail, sys-apps/firejail-lts); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2017-5940
ubuntu medium CVE-2017-5940 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (firejail), 6 status rows across 6 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): DNE 2, not-affected 2, ignored 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2017-5940

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2017-5940

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
firejail_project firejail >= 0.9.38, <= 0.9.38.10 cpe:2.3:a:firejail_project:firejail:*:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
firejail_project firejail >= 0.9.40, <= 0.9.44.6 cpe:2.3:a:firejail_project:firejail:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2017-5940

cvelogic Threat Intelligence