CVE-2025-4598

Systemd-coredump: race condition that allows a local attacker to crash a suid program and gain read access to the resulting core dump

MEDIUM
4.7
CVSS Score
Published: May 30, 2025 at 01:13 PM UTC
Updated: October 15, 2026 at 01:02 AM UTC
10 products affected across 7 vendorsLinux KernelDebian LinuxEnterprise Linux

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Severity
MEDIUM4.7
Exploit prediction
EPSS 1%
SSVC
PoC

Description

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.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 6.16
Affected range stops below 6.16, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Vendor states this is fixed in 0:252-55.el9_7.7 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 0:257-23.el10 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 10.2 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 4 (unaffected)
v < 252.37253 ≤ v < 253.32254 ≤ v < 254.25255 ≤ v < 255.19256 ≤ v < 256.14257 ≤ v < 257.6
Affected range stops below 252.37, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 253.32, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 254.25, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 255.19, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 256.14, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 257.6, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
All versions

References (19)

VDB Entryx_refsource_REDHATVendor Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-4598
Mailing List
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/06/05/1
Mailing List
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/06/05/3
ExploitThird Party Advisory
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
https://blogs.oracle.com/linux/post/analysis-of-cve-2025-4598
ExploitThird Party Advisory
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
https://ciq.com/blog/the-real-danger-of-systemd-coredump-cve-2025-4598/
Mailing ListThird Party Advisory
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/08/18/3

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCPoCNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
HIGH
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
NONE
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-364

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