Skip to main content

Warning! Unprivileged Linux Users With UID > INT_MAX Can Execute Any Command.

By Editor

Hold tight, this may blow your mind…
A low-privileged user account on most Linux operating systems with UID value anything greater than 2147483647 can execute any systemctl command unauthorizedly—thanks to a newly discovered vulnerability.
The reported vulnerability actually resides in PolicyKit (also known as polkit)—an application-level toolkit for Unix-like operating systems that defines policies, handles system-wide privileges and provides a way for non-privileged processes to communicate with privileged ones, such as "sudo," that does not grant root permission to an entire process.
The issue, tracked as CVE-2018-19788, impacts PolicyKit version 0.115 which comes pre-installed on most popular Linux distributions, including Red Hat, Debian, Ubuntu, and CentOS.
The vulnerability exists due to PolicyKit's improper validation of permission requests for any low-privileged user with UID greater than INT_MAX.
Where, INT_MAX is a constant in computer programming that defines what maximum value an integer variable can store, which equals to 2147483647 (in hexadecimal 0x7FFFFFFF).
So it means, if you create a user account on affected Linux systems with any UID greater than INT_MAX value, the PolicyKit component will allow you to execute any systemctl command successfully.
Security researcher Rich Mirch, Twitter handle "0xm1rch," has also released a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit to successfully demonstrate the vulnerability that requires a user with the UID 4000000000.
Red Hat has recommended system administrators not to allow any negative UIDs or UIDs greater than 2147483646 in order to mitigate the issue until the patch is released.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

UPDF has Rehabilitated Boreholes and Shallow Wells in Maracha District Ahead of 45th Tarehe Sita.

By Editor
Story by Osuta Yusuf. Maracha District.  30-12-2025. 📸: The technical team fixing some of the  boreholes. Photo by Osuta Yusuf, Our News Reporter. The Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) which is the legally constituted security organ to guard and protect the people, properties and sovereignty of Uganda, have rehabilitated a total of 9 Boreholes and shallow wells at the tune of 15m Shs in 7 Sub-counties out of the 19 Sub-counties in Maracha District through a service dubbed under the Theme of “QUICK IMPACT PROJECT” directly financed by the UPDF, ahead of preparation for the celebration of their next year's 2026 Tarehe Sita anniversary. 📸: Official launch of UPDF’s 45th Tarehe Sita celebration ahead of the due date 6-February-2026. Courtesy Photo. The UPDF Tarehe Sita is an annual public holiday and event that takes place on every 6th of February, the date when the then Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM) party now turned as National Resistance Army / Movement (NRA / M) headed b...
Post a Comment
Read more

UGANDA ELECTORAL COMMISSION TO ELIMINATE NATIONAL IDENTIFICATION CARDS (IDs) FOR 2021 GENERAL ELECTIONS.

By Editor
The elimination of using National IDs (Ndagamuntu) for the 2021 elections should not have come as a surprise. One would be very NAIVE to think that Bobi Wine has not prepared for this in his Business Plan under the RISK section. It is public knowledge that our EC is not independent.  It is also public knowledge that Military Dictator Yoweri Museveni will never lose an election. What stunned us this morning is when we noticed that on social media, people were mocking Bobi with his "get your Ndagamuntu".  We are on record for saying to all Our readers that the National ID is like Apartheid in South Africa. Students of History would know how those IDs were being used to arrest people, deny them jobs, deny them basic services. Consequently, Bobi was not wrong and will never be wrong on the Ndagamuntu. Except the ones attacking him and mocking him forget that in Uganda, now, no National ID (Ndagamuntu), no service.  If you have not been denied registering your child i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Parliament Urges Government to Provide Shs 4 Billion to Media Houses to Run Awareness Campaign on Tourism in Uganda.

By Editor
Parliament also urged Gov’t to provide additional Shs4Bn to UTB to engage international and national media houses in production of positive media stories for improved destination image, following reports of drop in number of tourists from US, Europe and China visiting Uganda. "The National Development Plan targeted to cumulatively attract 281,760 International Tourist arrivals from US, Europe & China but only 67,252 arrivals were registered by the end of the first half of FY 2023/24. The U.S, Europe & China were key target source for leisure tourist who stay longer than business tourists. However, statistics show that international arrivals from the aforementioned areas have continue to drop. The UTB requires Shs4Bn to engage international & national media houses in production of positive tourism stories to improve destination perception in light of recent controversies that shade the destination in a bad light. However, this has remained unfunded,” said La...
Post a Comment
Read more