Synced 30 Sept 2026 20:54 UTC Account
← All products

CVE-2017-6590

MEDIUM severity · CVSS 6.3 · Incorrect authorization
6.3CVSS MEDIUM

Summary

An issue was discovered in network-manager-applet (aka network-manager-gnome) in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, 14.04 LTS, 16.04 LTS, and 16.10. A local attacker could use this issue at the default Ubuntu login screen to access local files and execute arbitrary commands as the lightdm user. The exploitation requires physical access to the locked computer and the Wi-Fi must be turned on. An access point that lets you use a certificate to login is required as well, but it's easy to create one. Then, it's possible to open a nautilus window and browse directories. One also can open some applications such as Firefox, which is useful for downloading malicious binaries.

Impact & exploitability

Attack vectorPhysical
Attack complexityHigh
Privileges requiredLow
User interactionNone
Confidentiality impactHigh
Integrity impactHigh
Availability impactHigh
Exploit probability (EPSS)0%

CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products we track (1)

Recommendation

Apply the vendor fix in your normal patch cycle. Open any affected product above for its exact safe version.

Official patch: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/network-manager-applet/+bug/1668321 ↗