CVE-2002-0638: HP Secure OS

Medium severity, CVSS 6.2. EPSS: 0.5% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

setpwnam.c in the util-linux package, as included in Red Hat Linux 7.3 and earlier, and other operating systems, does not properly lock a temporary file when modifying /etc/passwd, which may allow local users to gain privileges via a complex race condition that uses an open file descriptor in utility programs such as chfn and chsh.

Affected products

• HP Secure OS: version 1.0 only
• Mandrakesoft Mandrake Linux: version 7.0 only; version 7.1 only; version 7.2 only; version 8.0 only; version 8.1 only; version 8.2 only
• Mandrakesoft Mandrake Linux Corporate Server: version 1.0.1 only
• Mandrakesoft Mandrake Single Network Firewall: version 7.2 only
• Red Hat Linux: version 6.0 only; version 6.1 only; version 6.2 only; version 7.0 only; version 7.1 only; version 7.2 only; …

Published 2002-08-12. Last modified 2026-06-16.