CVE-2021-25321: arpwatch: Local privilege escalation from runtime user to root

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2021-06-30 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-61

Description

A UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following vulnerability in arpwatch of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11-SP4-LTSS, SUSE Manager Server 4.0, SUSE OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 9; openSUSE Factory, Leap 15.2 allows local attackers with control of the runtime user to run arpwatch as to escalate to root upon the next restart of arpwatch. This issue affects: SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11-SP4-LTSS arpwatch versions prior to 2.1a15. SUSE Manager Server 4.0 arpwatch versions prior to 2.1a15. SUSE OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 9 arpwatch versions prior to 2.1a15. openSUSE Factory arpwatch version 2.1a15-169.5 and prior versions. openSUSE Leap 15.2 arpwatch version 2.1a15-lp152.5.5 and prior versions.

Affected products

SUSE Arpwatch: before 2.1a15; through 2.1a15-169.5; through 2.1a15-lp152.5.5 — fixed in 2.1a15

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: SUSE Arpwatch 2.1a15. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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