CVE-2016-8641

What it is

A privilege escalation vulnerability was found in nagios 4.2.x that occurs in daemon-init.in when creating necessary files and insecurely changing the ownership afterwards. It's possible for the local attacker to create symbolic links before the files are to be created and possibly escalating the privileges with the ownership change.

At a glance

Exploitability

Can be exploited locally on the machine with a low-privilege account, but needs a user to act. High risk of data exposure, data tampering, service disruption.

Exploit odds

1.1% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).

Fix

A patch, advisory or fixed version is referenced. Upgrade or apply it.

Timeline

1. 2018-08-01 14:29 UTC PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
2. 2026-06-17 00:54 UTC Last updatedMost recent change to the record

Why it ranks here

• Exploited in the wild: no, CISA does not list it.
• Exploit odds: 1.1% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
• Severity: 6.7 MEDIUM (CVSS).
• Fix: a patch or advisory is linked.

Details

Published

2018-08-01 14:29 UTC

Last modified

2026-06-17 00:54 UTC

Exploit probability

1.1% · EPSS, next 30 days

Weakness

CWE-59

Record status

Modified

Affected

• Nagios 4.2.0
• Nagios 4.2.1
• Nagios 4.2.2
• Nagios 4.2.3

Attack profile CVSS 3.0 · 6.7

Attack vector

Local

Complexity

High

Privileges needed

Low

User interaction

Required

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Is it in your code?

Hand this to your coding agent. It searches your project for the affected products and checks versions. Nothing leaves your machine.

Read https://cve-list.com/agent/cve/CVE-2016-8641.md and follow it. Check whether this project is affected by CVE-2016-8641. Read only. Don't change anything and don't upload my code. Tell me yes, no or not sure, with the file as proof.

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