CVE-2016-2568

Publication date 13 February 2017

Last updated 11 July 2025

Ubuntu priority

Cvss 3 Severity Score

Description

pkexec, when used with --user nonpriv, allows local users to escape to the parent session via a crafted TIOCSTI ioctl call, which pushes characters to the terminal's input buffer.

Read the notes from the security team

Status

Show unmaintained releases

Package	Ubuntu Release	Status
policykit-1	25.10 questing	Vulnerable, fix deferred
	25.04 plucky	Vulnerable, fix deferred
	24.10 oracular	Ignored end of life, was deferred
	24.04 LTS noble	Vulnerable, fix deferred
	23.10 mantic	Ignored end of life, was deferred
	23.04 lunar	Ignored end of life, was deferred
	22.10 kinetic	Ignored end of life, was deferred
	22.04 LTS jammy	Vulnerable, fix deferred
	21.10 impish	Ignored end of life
	21.04 hirsute	Ignored end of life
	20.10 groovy	Ignored end of life
	20.04 LTS focal	Vulnerable, fix deferred
	19.10 eoan	Ignored end of life
	19.04 disco	Ignored end of life
	18.10 cosmic	Ignored end of life
	18.04 LTS bionic	Vulnerable, fix deferred
	17.10 artful	Ignored end of life
	17.04 zesty	Ignored end of life
	16.10 yakkety	Ignored end of life
	16.04 LTS xenial	Vulnerable, fix deferred
	15.10 wily	Ignored end of life
	14.04 LTS trusty	Vulnerable, fix deferred
	12.04 LTS precise	Ignored end of life

Notes

mdeslaur

no fix available as of 2021-05-26

rodrigo-zaiden

no fix available as of 2022-02-21.

leosilva

no fix available as of 2023-07-21.

Severity score breakdown

Parameter	Value
Base score	7.8 · High
Attack vector	Local
Attack complexity	High
Privileges required	Low
User interaction	None
Scope	Changed
Confidentiality	High
Integrity impact	High
Availability impact	High
Vector	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H