{"id":28976,"date":"2025-04-22T09:41:43","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T09:41:43","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-09-26T20:58:54","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T02:58:54","slug":"cve-2025-32438-local-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-make-initrd-ng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-32438-local-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-make-initrd-ng\/","title":{"rendered":"CVE-2025-32438: Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in make-initrd-ng<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this blog post, we will delve into the critical vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-32438. This vulnerability is a local privilege escalation flaw that affects all users of NixOS, a popular Linux distribution, through make-initrd-ng, a tool used for copying binaries and their dependencies. This is particularly concerning because an attacker can exploit this vulnerability to potentially<\/a> compromise a system or leak sensitive data. The vulnerability is crucial to understand and address<\/a> because of its high severity score and the broad user base it affects.<\/p>\n

Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n

CVE ID: CVE-2025-32438
\nSeverity: High (8.8 CVSS Score)
\nAttack Vector: Local
\nPrivileges Required: Low
\nUser Interaction: Required
\nImpact: Potential system compromise or data leakage<\/a><\/p>\n

Affected Products<\/strong><\/p>\n

Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n

NixOS | 24.11, 25.05 \/ unstable<\/p>\n

How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n

The vulnerability lies in the make-initrd-ng tool’s improper<\/a> handling of permissions in its copying process. When the systemd.shutdownRamfs.enable setting is enabled (which is the default), a local user can create a program that will be executed<\/a> by root during shutdown. If an attacker can manipulate this process, they can elevate their privileges to root level, which can lead to the potential compromise of the entire system<\/a> or data leakage.<\/p>\n

Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p>\n

To illustrate, an attacker might create a malicious program as follows:<\/p>\n

#!\/bin\/bash\necho \"Malicious code here\" > \/path\/to\/executable\nchmod +x \/path\/to\/executable<\/code><\/pre>\n
In the context of a shutdown sequence, this could be inserted into the shutdown process:<\/p>\n
#!\/bin\/bash\n\/path\/to\/executable\nshutdown -h now<\/code><\/pre>\n
This would allow the malicious program to be executed<\/a> with root privileges during the shutdown process.<\/p>\n
Mitigation Guidance<\/strong><\/p>\n
Given the severity of this vulnerability<\/a>, it is highly recommended to apply the patches released for NixOS 24.11 and 25.05 \/ unstable. If patching is not immediately feasible, as a temporary mitigation, users can set systemd.shutdownRamfs.enable = false to disable the vulnerable<\/a> feature. Furthermore, deploying a well-configured Web<\/a> Application Firewall (WAF) or an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can also help detect and block potential exploitation attempts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Overview In this blog post, we will delve into the critical vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-32438. This vulnerability is a local privilege escalation flaw that affects all users of NixOS, a popular Linux distribution, through make-initrd-ng, a tool used for copying binaries and their dependencies. This is particularly concerning because an attacker can exploit this vulnerability […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[88],"product":[],"attack_vector":[76],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-28976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","vendor-linux","attack_vector-privilege-escalation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t