Public vulnerability disclosure

CVE-2023-6917

Pcp: unsafe use of directories allows pcp to root privilege escalation

publishedCWE-367

A vulnerability has been identified in the Performance Co-Pilot (PCP) package, stemming from the mixed privilege levels utilized by systemd services associated with PCP. While certain services operate within the confines of limited PCP user/group privileges, others are granted full root privileges. This disparity in privilege levels poses a risk when privileged root processes interact with directories or directory trees owned by unprivileged PCP users. Specifically, this vulnerability may lead to the compromise of PCP user isolation and facilitate local PCP-to-root exploits, particularly through symlink attacks. These vulnerabilities underscore the importance of maintaining robust privilege separation mechanisms within PCP to mitigate the potential for unauthorized privilege escalation.

Technical severity6.0 mediumCVSS 3.1 · CNA: redhat
Published2024-02-28Source updated 2026-11-05
Collected2026-11-052 attributed sources

Fixes and workarounds

Workaround

Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.

Source: CNA: redhat

Affected products and versions

Affected products, source version ranges and reporting authorities
ProductVersionsAuthority
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Red Hat
pcp
https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/
≥ 0:6.2.0-1.el9; < * (unaffected, rpm)
Other versions: affected
CNA: redhat
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
Red Hat
pcp
https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/
Range not reported
Other versions: unknown
CNA: redhat
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
Red Hat
pcp
https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/
Range not reported
Other versions: unknown
CNA: redhat
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
Red Hat
pcp
https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/
Range not reported
Other versions: affected
CNA: redhat

Version ranges are source assertions. Check the vendor advisory and your installed configuration before determining exposure.

CVSS assessments

CVSS scores, vectors and reporting authorities
Version / scoreVectorAuthority
3.1 / 6.0
medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:NCNA: redhat

Exploit evidence

No exploit evidence in collected sources. This is not proof of no exploitation.

References

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