CVE-2008-5103
(exclamation point) and allows attackers to bypass intended login restrictions.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.47%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
The (1) python-vm-builder and (2) ubuntu-vm-builder implementations in VMBuilder 0.9 in Ubuntu 8.10 omit the -e option when invoking chpasswd with a root:! argument, which configures the root account with a cleartext password of ! (exclamation point) and allows attackers to bypass intended login restrictions.
- CVSS 2.0
- 7.2 HIGHAV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
- EPSS
- 0.47% probability · 40th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-255
- Affected
- dcgrendel/vmbuilder
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS 0.5% since 26 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- http://launchpadlibrarian.net/19619929/vm-builder_0.9-0ubuntu3.1.debdiffExploit
- http://osvdb.org/49996
- http://secunia.com/advisories/32697Patch, Vendor Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/32292Patch
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-670-1Vendor Advisory
- https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/vm-builder/+bug/296841
- https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/46603
- http://launchpadlibrarian.net/19619929/vm-builder_0.9-0ubuntu3.1.debdiffExploit
- http://osvdb.org/49996
- http://secunia.com/advisories/32697Patch, Vendor Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/32292Patch
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-670-1Vendor Advisory
- https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/vm-builder/+bug/296841
- https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/46603
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.