CVE-2005-3503
chfn in pwdutils 3.0.4 and earlier on SuSE Linux, and possibly other operating systems, does not properly check arguments for the GECOS…
- 7.2HighCVSS base score
- 2.8%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 13% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- 1Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
chfn in pwdutils 3.0.4 and earlier on SuSE Linux, and possibly other operating systems, does not properly check arguments for the GECOS field, which allows local users to gain privileges.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list an Exploit-DB entry for it.
Show the exploits1
Exploit-DB1 entry
- Linux chfn (SuSE 9.3/10) - Local Privilege Escalation (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 1299local, linuxpublished 8 Nov 2005Verified
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By mitre
Published
- 19 years later
· 19 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Modified | 2.0 | High7.2 | AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 2.8% · top 13% of all CVEs (10 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.2.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References
4
- SUSE-SA:2005:064 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_SUSEx_transferred
- 20525 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_OSVDBx_transferred
- 17469 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- 15314 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2005-3502 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2005-3503)Record last updated .