Systemd Project Systemd
CVE-2025-4598
A vulnerability was found in systemd-coredump. This flaw allows an attacker to force a SUID process to crash and replace it with a non-SUID binary to access the original's privileged process coredump, allowing the attacker to read sensitive data, such as /etc/shadow content, loaded by the original process. A SUID binary or process has a special type of permission, which allows the process to run with the file owner's permissions, regardless of the user executing the binary. This allows the process to access more restricted data than unprivileged users or processes would be able to. An attacker can leverage this flaw by forcing a SUID process to crash and force the Linux kernel to recycle the process PID before systemd-coredump can analyze the /proc/pid/auxv file. If the attacker wins the race condition, they gain access to the original's SUID process coredump file. They can read sensitive content loaded into memory by the original binary, affecting data confidentiality.
What this means for your business
- It affects Systemd Project Systemd. It matters if your company, or a supplier that handles your data, runs it.
- Code showing how to exploit it has been published, but real attacks have not been confirmed.
- An attacker can use it only with access to the machine itself, with an ordinary user login, and without anyone at your company clicking anything.
What to do
- 1Check whether your company or your suppliers run Systemd Project Systemd, and which version. The affected versions are listed further down this page.
- 2If you do, apply the vendor's fix. A patch or vendor advisory has been published.
Not sure if your company is exposed?
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Scoring
- CVSS
- 4.7 (v3.1)
- Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N- Weakness
- CWE-364
- Assigned by
- secalert@redhat.com
Dates
- Published
- 2025-05-30
- Last modified
- 2026-09-01
- Sources
- NVD
Affected products
- Systemd Project Systemd- 252.37, 253 - 253.32, 254 - 254.25, 255 - 255.19, 256 - 256.14, 257 - 257.6
- Redhat Openshift Container Platform4.0
- Redhat Enterprise Linux7.0, 8.0, 9.0, 10.0
- Debian Debian Linux11.0, 12.0
- Oracle Linux8, 9
- Linux Linux Kernel- 6.16
As listed in the NVD configuration data. Not a statement about your estate.
References
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:22660
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:22868
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:23227
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:23234
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:0414
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:1652
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18153
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-4598
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2369242
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/05/29/3
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/Jun/9
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/06/05/1
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/06/05/3
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/08/18/3
- https://blogs.oracle.com/linux/post/analysis-of-cve-2025-4598