Technical impact
The vulnerability arises when util-linux processes a username that is 256 bytes long in the setpwnam() function, causing a heap buffer overread in the SUID login‑utils utilities that write to the password database. This overread can expose adjacent memory contents, potentially leaking sensitive information or corrupting the password database. The weakness corresponds to CWE‑125, indicating a lack of bounds checking.
Affected Systems
Affected systems include Red Hat Ceph Storage versions 7, 8, 9 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 through 10, including RHEL 6, 7, 8, 9 and the 10.1 base OS, as well as Red Hat Hardened Images, Red Hat Insights Proxy 1.5, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4, Red Hat Update Infrastructure 5, and the util‑linux package itself. Any deployment using these products and relying on the login‑utils with setuid privileges is at risk.
Risk and Exploitability
The CVSS score of 6.1 indicates a moderate impact. EPSS is below 1 %, showing a very low probability of exploitation, and the vulnerability is not currently listed in CISA’s KEV. Likely attack requires local execution of the affected SUID utilities, making it a local privilege escalation scenario. Nevertheless, because the overread can leak data, administrators should treat it as a risk to confidentiality and integrity and prioritize applying the Red Hat patches.
