CVE-2024-9050: Networkmanager-libreswan: local privilege escalation via leftupdown

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.5% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2024-10-22 · updated 2026-06-26
Weakness: CWE-94

Description

A flaw was found in the libreswan client plugin for NetworkManager (NetkworkManager-libreswan), where it fails to properly sanitize the VPN configuration from the local unprivileged user. In this configuration, composed by a key-value format, the plugin fails to escape special characters, leading the application to interpret values as keys. One of the most critical parameters that could be abused by a malicious user is the `leftupdown`key. This key takes an executable command as a value and is used to specify what executes as a callback in NetworkManager-libreswan to retrieve configuration settings back to NetworkManager. As NetworkManager uses Polkit to allow an unprivileged user to control the system's network configuration, a malicious actor could achieve local privilege escalation and potential code execution as root in the targeted machine by creating a malicious configuration.

Affected products

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10: all versions
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.7 Advanced Update Support: all versions — fixed in 0:1.2.4-4.el7_7
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extended Lifecycle Support: all versions — fixed in 0:1.2.4-4.el7_9
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8: all versions — fixed in 0:1.2.10-7.el8_10
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 Advanced Update Support: all versions — fixed in 0:1.2.10-6.el8_2
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support: all versions — fixed in 0:1.2.10-6.el8_4
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Telecommunications Update Service: all versions — fixed in 0:1.2.10-6.el8_4
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Update Services for SAP Solutions: all versions — fixed in 0:1.2.10-6.el8_4
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support: all versions — fixed in 0:1.2.10-6.el8_6
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Telecommunications Update Service: all versions — fixed in 0:1.2.10-6.el8_6
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Update Services for SAP Solutions: all versions — fixed in 0:1.2.10-6.el8_6
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Extended Update Support: all versions — fixed in 0:1.2.10-6.el8_8
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9: all versions — fixed in 0:1.2.22-4.el9_5
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.0 Update Services for SAP Solutions: all versions — fixed in 0:1.2.14-3.el9_0
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.2 Extended Update Support: all versions — fixed in 0:1.2.14-6.el9_2
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.4 Extended Update Support: all versions — fixed in 0:1.2.18-6.el9_4

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.7 Advanced Update Support 0:1.2.4-4.el7_7; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extended Lifecycle Support 0:1.2.4-4.el7_9; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 0:1.2.10-7.el8_10; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 Advanced Update Support 0:1.2.10-6.el8_2; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support 0:1.2.10-6.el8_4; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Telecommunications Update Service 0:1.2.10-6.el8_4; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Update Services for SAP Solutions 0:1.2.10-6.el8_4; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support 0:1.2.10-6.el8_6; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Telecommunications Update Service 0:1.2.10-6.el8_6; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6 Update Services for SAP Solutions 0:1.2.10-6.el8_6; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Extended Update Support 0:1.2.10-6.el8_8; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 0:1.2.22-4.el9_5. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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