CVE-2024-48991

Qualys discovered that needrestart, before version 3.8, allows local attackers to execute arbitrary code as root by winning a race condition and tricking needrestart into running their own, fake Python interpreter (instead of the system's real Python interpreter). The initial security fix (6ce6136) introduced a regression which was subsequently resolved (42af5d3).

Published: 2024-11-19 Last update: 2025-11-03 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2024-48991 is rated Moderate Risk (45.2/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.18%). 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-2024-48991

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 2026-04-10 0.25% 0.18% -0.07%
2 2025-12-28 0.08% 0.25% +0.17%
3 2025-04-15 — 0.08% —

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2024-48991

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/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: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: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.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2024-48991

OS Trackers for CVE-2024-48991

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2024-48991 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (needrestart), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2024-48991
ubuntu high CVE-2024-48991 high priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (needrestart), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, upstream, xenial): released 7, needed 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2024-48991

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-48991

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
needrestart_project needrestart < 3.8 cpe:2.3:a:needrestart_project:needrestart:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2024-48991

cvelogic Threat Intelligence