Bug 2533651 (CVE-2026-91841) - CVE-2026-91841 NetworkManager-vpnc: NetworkManager-vpnc: incomplete fix for CVE-2018-10900 allows root privilege escalation via CA-File path newline injection
Summary: CVE-2026-91841 NetworkManager-vpnc: NetworkManager-vpnc: incomplete fix for C...
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-91841
Product: Security Response
Classification: Other
Component: vulnerability
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
high
high
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Product Security DevOps Team
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On: 2533693
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2026-09-15 09:56 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-10-31 07:48 UTC (History)
0 users

Fixed In Version:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-15 09:56:30 UTC
A privilege escalation flaw was found in NetworkManager-vpnc, the vpnc VPN plugin for NetworkManager. This is an incomplete fix for CVE-2018-10900: the original patch rejected embedded newline and carriage-return characters in connection profile properties, but only for ITEM_TYPE_STRING and ITEM_TYPE_SECRET types, leaving ITEM_TYPE_PATH properties such as the CA-File path unprotected. A local unprivileged user can set a CA-File path containing an embedded newline character, which is legal in Unix filenames. nm-vpnc-service writes this value unfiltered into vpnc's configuration, allowing the newline to split it into additional directives, including a "Password helper" directive. When the malicious VPN connection is activated and vpnc processes Xauth authentication, it executes the injected helper via execl() as root, resulting in local privilege escalation to root.


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