CVE-2016-8641
A privilege escalation vulnerability was found in nagios 4.2.x that occurs in daemon-init.in when...
A privilege escalation vulnerability was found in nagios 4.2.x that occurs in daemon-init.in when creating necessary files and insecurely changing the ownership afterwards. It's possible for the local attacker to create symbolic links before the files are to be created and possibly escalating the privileges with the ownership change.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
A privilege escalation vulnerability was found in nagios 4.2.x that occurs in daemon-init.in when creating necessary files and insecurely changing the ownership afterwards. It's possible for the local attacker to create symbolic links before the files are to be created and possibly escalating the privileges with the ownership change.
- Record
CVE-2016-8641- CVSS 3.0
- 6.7 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2016-9482
A privilege escalation vulnerability was found in nagios 4.2.x that occurs in daemon-init.in when creating necessary files and insecurely changing the ownership afterwards. It's possible for the local attacker to create symbolic links before the files are to be created and possibly escalating the privileges with the ownership change.
- Record
EUVD-2016-9482- CVSS 3.0
- 6.7 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-xh33-x4fq-3r2h
A privilege escalation vulnerability was found in nagios 4.2.x that occurs in daemon-init.in when...
A privilege escalation vulnerability was found in nagios 4.2.x that occurs in daemon-init.in when creating necessary files and insecurely changing the ownership afterwards. It's possible for the local attacker to create symbolic links before the files are to be created and possibly escalating the privileges with the ownership change.
- Record
GHSA-xh33-x4fq-3r2h- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
A privilege escalation vulnerability was found in nagios 4.2.x that occurs in daemon-init.in when creating necessary files and insecurely changing the ownership afterwards. It's possible for the local attacker to create symbolic links before the files are to be created and possibly escalating the privileges with the ownership change.
- Record
CVE-2016-8641- CVSS 3.0
- 6.7 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 7.2 High
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C - Weakness
- CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
A privilege escalation vulnerability was found in nagios 4.2.x that occurs in daemon-init.in when creating necessary files and insecurely changing the ownership afterwards. It's possible for the local attacker to create symbolic links before the files are to be created and possibly escalating the privileges with the ownership change.
- Record
CVE-2016-8641- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2024:11073-1 No score
nagios-4.4.6-2.5 on GA media
These are all security issues fixed in the nagios-4.4.6-2.5 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2024:11073-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVSUSE-SU-2018:3240-1 No score
Security update for nagios
This update for nagios fixes the following issues:
- CVE-2016-8641 / CVE-2016-10089: fixed possible symlink attacks for files/directories created by root (bsc#1011630 / bsc#1018047)
- Record
SUSE-SU-2018:3240-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVSUSE-SU-2018:3620-1 No score
Security update for icinga
This update for icinga fixes the following issues:
Security issues fixed:
- CVE-2015-8010: Fixed XSS in the icinga classic UI (boo#952777)
- CVE-2016-8641 / CVE-2016-10089: fixed a possible symlink attack for files/dirs created by root (boo#1011630 and boo#1018047)
- Record
SUSE-SU-2018:3620-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
nagiosSUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 11 SP4 From an advisory covering 2 CVEs |
before 3.0.6-1.25.36.3.1 | 3.0.6-1.25.36.3.1 |
nagiosSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 From an advisory covering 2 CVEs |
before 3.0.6-1.25.36.3.1 | 3.0.6-1.25.36.3.1 |
nagiosSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 11 SP4 From an advisory covering 2 CVEs |
before 3.0.6-1.25.36.3.1 | 3.0.6-1.25.36.3.1 |
icingaSUSE:Manager Client Tools 12 From an advisory covering 3 CVEs |
before 1.13.3-12.3.1 | 1.13.3-12.3.1 |
icingaSUSE:Enterprise Storage 4 From an advisory covering 3 CVEs |
before 1.13.3-12.3.1 | 1.13.3-12.3.1 |
nagiosopenSUSE:Tumbleweed From an advisory covering 17 CVEs |
before 4.4.6-2.5 | 4.4.6-2.5 |
Public exploits
Links only. Every CVE stores no exploit code.
| Source | Link | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Exploit-DB | Nagios 4.2.2 - Local Privilege Escalation | 2016-11-18 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| affected, facts | ||
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, Exploit-DB, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2016-8641 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 6.7) in Nagios, published August 1, 2018. Public exploit code exists. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.14%, the 66th percentile. No source names a fixed version.
References
exploit-db.com/exploits/40774
github.com/NagiosEnterprises/nagioscore/commit/f2ed227673d3b2da643eb5cad26b2d87674f28c1.patch
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2016-8641
securityfocus.com/bid/95121
security.gentoo.org/glsa/201702-26
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-8641
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suse.com/support/update/announcement/2018/suse-su-20183240-1
bugzilla.suse.com/1011630