HOME VULNERABILITIESCVE-2005-4890

HIGH

CVE-2005-4890

CWE-20Published: November 4, 2019· Updated: Jun 16, 2026

7.8

CVSS v3.1

Official Description

There is a possible tty hijacking in shadow 4.x before 4.1.5 and sudo 1.x before 1.7.4 via "su - user -c program". The user session can be escaped to the parent session by using the TIOCSTI ioctl to push characters into the input buffer to be read by the next process.

Technical Analysis

CVE-2005-4890 requires local access, meaning attackers must already have a foothold on the target system.

Exploitation requires low privileges, which limits the exposure to scenarios where an attacker has already gained initial access.

A successful exploit results in complete confidentiality breach (data exposure), full integrity compromise (data manipulation), availability disruption (denial of service), with a CVSS base score of 7.8.

CVSS v3.1 Vector Breakdown

Exploitability

Attack VectorLocal

Attack ComplexityLow

Privileges Req.Low

User InteractionNone

ScopeUnchanged

Impact

ConfidentialityHigh

IntegrityHigh

AvailabilityHigh

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected Vendors & Products

Debian2 product(s)

shadowdebian linux

Red Hat1 product(s)

enterprise linux

sudo_project1 product(s)

sudo

Source: NVD CPE · 8 total CPE entries

Exploit & PoC Resources

NO KNOWN EXPLOITNo public exploit confirmed at this time

Offensive Security exploit database

GitHub PoC Search

Community PoC repositories

Rapid7 / Metasploit

Metasploit module search

Security advisories & exploits

Official NIST entry

CVE Program entry

External links open in a new tab. Always verify in a controlled environment before use.

Official Patches & Advisories

ADVISORYhttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/11/06/8

ADVISORYhttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/05/20/3

ADVISORYhttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/11/28/10

ADVISORYhttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/11/29/5

ADVISORYhttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/10/20/9

ADVISORYhttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/10/21/1

ADVISORYhttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/12/15/5

ADVISORYhttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/02/25/6

ADVISORYhttps://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2005-4890

ADVISORYhttps://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2005-4890

ADVISORYhttps://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2005-4890

ADVISORYhttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/11/06/8

ADVISORYhttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/05/20/3

ADVISORYhttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/11/28/10

ADVISORYhttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/11/29/5

ADVISORYhttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/10/20/9

ADVISORYhttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/10/21/1

ADVISORYhttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/12/15/5

ADVISORYhttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/02/25/6

ADVISORYhttps://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2005-4890

ADVISORYhttps://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2005-4890

ADVISORYhttps://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2005-4890

All References (22)

→

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/11/06/8Mailing List · Third Party Advisory

→

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/05/20/3Mailing List · Third Party Advisory

→

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/11/28/10Mailing List · Third Party Advisory

→

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/11/29/5Mailing List · Third Party Advisory

→

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/10/20/9Mailing List · Third Party Advisory

→

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/10/21/1Mailing List · Third Party Advisory

→

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/12/15/5Mailing List · Third Party Advisory

→

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/02/25/6Exploit · Mailing List · Third Party Advisory

→

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2005-4890Third Party Advisory

→

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2005-4890Issue Tracking · Third Party Advisory

→

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2005-4890Third Party Advisory

→

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/11/06/8Mailing List · Third Party Advisory

→

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/05/20/3Mailing List · Third Party Advisory

→

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/11/28/10Mailing List · Third Party Advisory

→

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/11/29/5Mailing List · Third Party Advisory

Quick Facts

CVE IDCVE-2005-4890

CVSS Score7.8 / 10

SeverityHIGH

WeaknessCWE-20

CISA KEVNo

Affected3 vendor(s)

PublishedNov 4, 2019

Related CVEs (CWE-20)

Recommended Actions

→Apply vendor patches immediately
→Monitor CVE-2005-4890 in threat intel feeds
→Review IDS/IPS signatures for exploitation attempts

Data sourced from NVD (NIST), CISA KEV, and EPSS (FIRST). Analysis generated by CTIWatch. CVE data is provided under the NVD usage policy.

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