New Linux Vulnerability Enables a Privilege Escalation
Looney Tunables is a new Linux vulnerability that has been discovered in the GNU C library that can lead to privilege escalation.
CVE-2023-4911 has been discovered in the GNU C library ld.so dynamic loader that can be exploited to give bad actors root privileges on major Linux distributions.
This vulnerability resides in the glibc dynamic loader and can be exploited in the processing of the GLIBC_TUNABLES environment variable. This flaw was discovered and originally reported by Qualys.
The dynamic loader defines system calls and other functionalities such as open, malloc, printf, and exit. This crucial component of glibc examines a program (when it is initiated) and determines the shared libraries it requires. The dynamic loader then searches for the libraries, loads them into memory, and links them to the program at runtime.
The GLIBC_TUNABLES environment variable was added to glibc to give users the capability of modifying the library's runtime behavior. Qualys discovered the presence of a buffer overflow flaw that poses a serious threat to all major Linux distributions.
If affected, a threat actor could gain root privileges and wreak havoc on a system. Distributions such as Debian 12 and 13, Ubuntu 22.04 and 23.04, and Fedora 37 and 38 are all affected.
This vulnerability should be taken seriously and admins are encouraged to patch immediately.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Dash to Panel Maintainer Quits
Charles Gagnon has stepped away as maintainer of the popular Dash to Panel Gnome extension.
-
CIQ Releases Security-Hardened Version of Rocky Linux
If you're looking for an enterprise-grade Linux distribution that is hardened for business use, there's a new version of Rocky Linux that's sure to make you and your company happy.
-
Gnome’s Dash to Panel Extension Gets a Massive Update
If you're a fan of the Gnome Dash to Panel extension, you'll be thrilled to hear that a new version has been released with a dock mode.
-
Blender App Makes it to the Big Screen
The animated film "Flow" won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 97th Academy Awards held on March 2, 2025 and Blender was a part of it.
-
Linux Mint Retools the Cinnamon App Launcher
The developers of Linux Mint are working on an improved Cinnamon App Launcher with a better, more accessible UI.
-
New Linux Tool for Security Issues
Seal Security is launching a new solution to automate fixing Linux vulnerabilities.
-
Ubuntu 25.04 Coming Soon
Ubuntu 25.04 (Plucky Puffin) has been given an April release date with many notable updates.
-
Gnome Developers Consider Dropping RPM Support
In a move that might shock a lot of users, the Gnome development team has proposed the idea of going straight up Flatpak.
-
openSUSE Tumbleweed Ditches AppArmor for SELinux
If you're an openSUSE Tumbleweed user, you can expect a major change to the distribution.
-
Plasma 6.3 Now Available
Plasma desktop v6.3 has a couple of pretty nifty tricks up its sleeve.