CVE-2024-32019: ndsudo: local privilege escalation via untrusted search path

Severity: high (CVSS 8.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 1.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2024-04-12 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-426

Description

Netdata is an open source observability tool. In affected versions the `ndsudo` tool shipped with affected versions of the Netdata Agent allows an attacker to run arbitrary programs with root permissions. The `ndsudo` tool is packaged as a `root`-owned executable with the SUID bit set. It only runs a restricted set of external commands, but its search paths are supplied by the `PATH` environment variable. This allows an attacker to control where `ndsudo` looks for these commands, which may be a path the attacker has write access to. This may lead to local privilege escalation. This vulnerability has been addressed in versions 1.45.3 and 1.45.2-169. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

Affected products

netdata: from 1.44.0-60 before 1.45.0-169; from 1.45.0 before 1.45.3 — fixed in 1.45.0-169, 1.45.3

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: netdata 1.45.0-169, 1.45.3. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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