CVE-2020-24046
A sandbox escape issue was discovered in TitanHQ SpamTitan Gateway 7.07. It limits the admin user...
A sandbox escape issue was discovered in TitanHQ SpamTitan Gateway 7.07. It limits the admin user to a restricted shell, allowing execution of a small number of tools of the operating system. This restricted shell can be bypassed after changing the properties of the user admin in the operating system file /etc/passwd. This file cannot be accessed though the restricted shell, but it can be modified by abusing the Backup/Import Backup functionality of the web interface. An authenticated attacker would be able to obtain the file /var/tmp/admin.passwd after executing a Backup operation. This file can be manually modified to change the GUID of the user to 0 (root) and change the restricted shell to a normal shell /bin/sh. After the modification is done, the file can be recompressed to a .tar.bz file and imported again via the Import Backup functionality. The properties of the admin user will be overwritten and a root shell will be granted to the user upon the next successful login.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- High
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
A sandbox escape issue was discovered in TitanHQ SpamTitan Gateway 7.07. It limits the admin user to a restricted shell, allowing execution of a small number of tools of the operating system. This restricted shell can be bypassed after changing the properties of the user admin in the operating system file /etc/passwd. This file cannot be accessed though the restricted shell, but it can be modified by abusing the Backup/Import Backup functionality of the web interface. An authenticated attacker would be able to obtain the file /var/tmp/admin.passwd after executing a Backup operation. This file can be manually modified to change the GUID of the user to 0 (root) and change the restricted shell to a normal shell /bin/sh. After the modification is done, the file can be recompressed to a .tar.bz file and imported again via the Import Backup functionality. The properties of the admin user will be overwritten and a root shell will be granted to the user upon the next successful login.
- Record
CVE-2020-24046- CVSS 3.1
- 7.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 9.0 High
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C - Weakness
- CWE-269
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
A sandbox escape issue was discovered in TitanHQ SpamTitan Gateway 7.07. It limits the admin user to a restricted shell, allowing execution of a small number of tools of the operating system. This restricted shell can be bypassed after changing the properties of the user admin in the operating system file /etc/passwd. This file cannot be accessed though the restricted shell, but it can be modified by abusing the Backup/Import Backup functionality of the web interface. An authenticated attacker would be able to obtain the file /var/tmp/admin.passwd after executing a Backup operation. This file can be manually modified to change the GUID of the user to 0 (root) and change the restricted shell to a normal shell /bin/sh. After the modification is done, the file can be recompressed to a .tar.bz file and imported again via the Import Backup functionality. The properties of the admin user will be overwritten and a root shell will be granted to the user upon the next successful login.
- Record
CVE-2020-24046- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2020-16782 No score
A sandbox escape issue was discovered in TitanHQ SpamTitan Gateway 7.07. It limits the admin user to a restricted shell, allowing execution of a small number of tools of the operating system. This restricted shell can be bypassed after changing the properties of the user admin in the operating system file /etc/passwd. This file cannot be accessed though the restricted shell, but it can be modified by abusing the Backup/Import Backup functionality of the web interface. An authenticated attacker would be able to obtain the file /var/tmp/admin.passwd after executing a Backup operation. This file can be manually modified to change the GUID of the user to 0 (root) and change the restricted shell to a normal shell /bin/sh. After the modification is done, the file can be recompressed to a .tar.bz file and imported again via the Import Backup functionality. The properties of the admin user will be overwritten and a root shell will be granted to the user upon the next successful login.
- Record
EUVD-2020-16782- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-m5r6-8jfm-hp4w No score
A sandbox escape issue was discovered in TitanHQ SpamTitan Gateway 7.07. It limits the admin user...
A sandbox escape issue was discovered in TitanHQ SpamTitan Gateway 7.07. It limits the admin user to a restricted shell, allowing execution of a small number of tools of the operating system. This restricted shell can be bypassed after changing the properties of the user admin in the operating system file /etc/passwd. This file cannot be accessed though the restricted shell, but it can be modified by abusing the Backup/Import Backup functionality of the web interface. An authenticated attacker would be able to obtain the file /var/tmp/admin.passwd after executing a Backup operation. This file can be manually modified to change the GUID of the user to 0 (root) and change the restricted shell to a normal shell /bin/sh. After the modification is done, the file can be recompressed to a .tar.bz file and imported again via the Import Backup functionality. The properties of the admin user will be overwritten and a root shell will be granted to the user upon the next successful login.
- Record
GHSA-m5r6-8jfm-hp4w- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2020-24046 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.2) in Titanhq Spamtitan, published September 17, 2020. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 3.41%, the 88th percentile. No source names a fixed version.