CVE-2024-48990
Qualys discovered that needrestart, before version 3.8, allows local attackers to execute arbitrary code as root by tricking needrestart into running the Python interpreter with an attacker-controlled PYTHONPATH environment variable.
Does this matter?
EPSS puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 21.3%, higher than 98% of all known CVEs. Patch or mitigate before the next change window.
Description
Qualys discovered that needrestart, before version 3.8, allows local attackers to execute arbitrary code as root by tricking needrestart into running the Python interpreter with an attacker-controlled PYTHONPATH environment variable.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 21.27% probability · 98th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-427
- Affected
- needrestart project/needrestart
- Source
- security@ubuntu.com
EPSS 21.3% since 3 November 2026; no change recorded yet. The dashed line is the ten per cent mark our analysts treat as “patch before the next change window”. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- https://github.com/liske/needrestart/commit/fcc9a4401392231bef4ef5ed026a0d7a275149abPatch
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-48990VDB Entry
- https://www.qualys.com/2024/11/19/needrestart/needrestart.txtThird Party Advisory
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2024/Nov/17
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2024/11/msg00014.html
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2024/11/19/1Mailing List
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.