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Fencer Intel
high 7.2

CVE-2012-0809 json

Format string vulnerability in the sudo_debug function in Sudo 1.8.0 through 1.8.3p1 allows local users to execute arbitrary code via forma…

published 2012-02-01 14 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2012-0836

cvss
7.2
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
2.9%
EPSS 2.9% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 87%
public exploits
2
Exploit-DB

Summary

Format string vulnerability in the sudo_debug function in Sudo 1.8.0 through 1.8.3p1 allows local users to execute arbitrary code via format string sequences in the program name for sudo.

Patch / fix

  • sudo Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 1.8.3p2-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2012-0809

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2012-0809 updated cvss 7.2

sudo: format string flaw in sudo_debug()

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 sudo Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 sudo Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 sudo
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Timeline

  1. First public exploit (EDB-18436)
  2. Published

Exploit prediction

2.93% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 87% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • EDB-25134 sudo 1.8.0 < 1.8.3p1 - 'sudo_debug' glibc FORTIFY_SOURCE Bypass + Privilege Escalation local, 2013-05-01
  • EDB-18436 sudo 1.8.0 < 1.8.3p1 - Format String dos, 2012-01-31
  • archives.neohapsis.com http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/fulldisclosure/2012-01/att-0591/advisory_sudo.txt referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • sudo.ws http://www.sudo.ws/sudo/alerts/sudo_debug.html referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 7.2 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-134 Use of Externally-Controlled Format String

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.