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Vulnerability record · CVE-2010-4170 · published 7 December 2010

CVE-2010-4170: Systemtap permissions and access controls vulnerability

Systemtap · Systemtap

The staprun runtime tool in SystemTap 1.3 does not properly clear the environment before executing modprobe, which allows local users to gain privileges by setting the MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment variable to specify a malicious configuration file.

7.2 CVSS 2.0 High EPSS 5.3% · top 7.7% CWE-264 · Permissions and access controls
7.2CVSS 2.0 base score
5.3%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
1Affected product versions listed by NVD
38References, 4 tagged exploit
16 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

The staprun runtime tool in SystemTap 1.3 does not properly clear the environment before executing modprobe, which allows local users to gain privileges by setting the MODPROBE_OPTIONS environment variable to specify a malicious configuration file.

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Affected products

1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2010-November/051115.html
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2010-November/051122.html
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2010-November/051127.html
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/152569/SystemTap-1.3-MODPROBE_OPTIONS-Privilege-Escalation.html
http://secunia.com/advisories/42256 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/42263 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/42306 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/42318 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/46920
http://sources.redhat.com/git/gitweb.cgi?p=systemtap.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=b7565b41228bea196cefa3a7d43ab67f8f9152e2
http://sources.redhat.com/ml/systemtap/2010-q4/msg00230.html
http://www.debian.org/security/2011/dsa-2348
http://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/15620 Exploit
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2010-0894.html
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2010-0895.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/44914 Exploit
http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1024754
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/63344
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/46730/
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2010-November/051115.html
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2010-November/051122.html
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2010-November/051127.html
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/152569/SystemTap-1.3-MODPROBE_OPTIONS-Privilege-Escalation.html
http://secunia.com/advisories/42256 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/42263 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/42306 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/42318 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/46920
http://sources.redhat.com/git/gitweb.cgi?p=systemtap.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=b7565b41228bea196cefa3a7d43ab67f8f9152e2
http://sources.redhat.com/ml/systemtap/2010-q4/msg00230.html
http://www.debian.org/security/2011/dsa-2348
http://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/15620 Exploit
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2010-0894.html
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2010-0895.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/44914 Exploit
http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1024754
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/63344
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/46730/

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Related vulnerabilities

Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.

10.0CVE-2009-4273Systemtap code injection vulnerabilitystap-server in SystemTap before 1.1 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via shell metacharacters in stap command-line arguments in …EPSS 18%7.5CVE-2010-0412Systemtap vulnerabilitystap-server in SystemTap 1.1 does not properly restrict the value of the -B (aka BUILD) option, which allows attackers to have an unspecified impact …EPSS 1.7%6.3CVE-2009-0784Systemtap race condition vulnerabilityRace condition in the SystemTap stap tool 0.0.20080705 and 0.0.20090314 allows local users in the stapusr group to insert arbitrary SystemTap kernel …EPSS 0.26%5.4CVE-2012-0875Systemtap permissions and access controls vulnerabilitySystemTap 1.7, 1.6.7, and probably other versions, when unprivileged mode is enabled, allows local users to obtain sensitive information from kernel …EPSS 0.35%4.9CVE-2010-0411Systemtap vulnerabilityMultiple integer signedness errors in the (1) __get_argv and (2) __get_compat_argv functions in tapset/aux_syscalls.stp in SystemTap 1.1 allow local …EPSS 0.95%4.4CVE-2011-2502Systemtap improper input validation vulnerabilityruntime/staprun/staprun_funcs.c in the systemtap runtime tool (staprun) in SystemTap before 1.6 does not properly validate modules when a module path…EPSS 0.52%3.7CVE-2011-2503Systemtap improper input validation vulnerabilityThe insert_module function in runtime/staprun/staprun_funcs.c in the systemtap runtime tool (staprun) in SystemTap before 1.6 does not properly valid…EPSS 0.44%2.1CVE-2010-4171Systemtap improper input validation vulnerabilityThe staprun runtime tool in SystemTap 1.3 does not verify that a module to unload was previously loaded by SystemTap, which allows local users to cau…EPSS 0.40%

Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2010-4170), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-26). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.