CVE-2015-3246

CRITICALPre-NVD 5.19.0▲
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score elevated to 9.0 because this CVE is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2026-08-26), indicating real-world exploitation has been confirmed by US federal agencies. CISA-ADP (Vulnrichment) CVSS v3.1 baseline 5.1 retained for reference (NVD's own analysis pending). Confidence: HIGH.

Triggered by: CISA KEV (actively exploited)
Sources: cisa-adp, cisa_kev, epss, ghsa
Trending — 5 sources updated this weekExploited in the wild
9.0EG
EchelonGraph verdictPatch nowTreat as an emergency — this is being exploited.
  • Actively exploited in the wild (CISA-KEV)
CISA-KEV: ExploitedEPSS PROB: 9%CVSS: 5.1Exploit: cisa kev · ssvc active · Metasploit · Exploit-DB (verified) · public exploitExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

libuser before 0.56.13-8 and 0.60 before 0.60-7, as used in the userhelper program in the usermode package, directly modifies /etc/passwd, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (inconsistent file state) by causing an error during the modification. NOTE: this issue can be combined with CVE-2015-3245 to gain privileges.

CVSS v3
5.1
EG Score
9.0(high)
EG Risk
81(Attend)
EG Risk 81/100SSVC: Attend

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity90% × 45%
Exploitation100% × 40%
Automatability0% × 15%
Action: Remediate soon — notable exploitation risk.
EPSS PROB
9%
EPSS %ILE
95%
KEV
⚠ Exploited

Published

August 11, 2015

Last Modified

August 27, 2026

Advisory Details (7)

Auto-updated Aug 26, 2026
🔬 Proof of concept available. Patch available. Sources: redhat.
generic🟡 PoC Available
https://www.qualys.com/2015/07/23/cve-2015-3245-cve-2015-3246/cve-2015-3245-cve-2015-3246.txt
generic🟡 PoC Available

Libuser - 'roothelper' Local Privilege Escalation (Metasploit) - Linux local Exploit

https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/44633/
redhat Patch Available

libuser vulnerabilities (CVE-2015-3245 and CVE-2015-3246) - Red Hat Customer Portal

Affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and 7 are affected by these flaws. See the table below for links to respective security advisories

https://access.redhat.com/articles/1537873
generic
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1033040
generic

CVE-2015-3246 - PSIRT.COM

http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/76022
generic
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2015-1483.html
generic
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2015-1482.html

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2015-3246(1)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Patch Availability(2)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
redhatlibuser-0:0.56.13-8.el6_72015-07-23redhat
redhatlibuser-0:0.60-7.ael7b_12015-07-23redhat

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Affected Packages

(5 across 5 ecosystems)
Debian:11(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
libuser—1:0.62~dfsg-0.1—
Debian:12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
libuser—1:0.62~dfsg-0.1—
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
libuser—1:0.62~dfsg-0.1—
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
libuser—1:0.62~dfsg-0.1—
Debian:7(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
libuser1:0.56.9.dfsg.1-1.21:0.56.9.dfsg.1-1.2+deb7u1—

Weakness Classification(2)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

All Vendor Advisories

(2)

Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 103× in last 7d / 361× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 480 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-09-19 04:59 UTCVendor advisory
  2. 2026-09-19 04:59 UTCGHSA enrichment
  3. 2026-09-19 01:07 UTCVendor advisory
  4. 2026-09-19 01:07 UTCGHSA enrichment
  5. 2026-09-18 21:16 UTCEG score recompute
  6. 2026-09-18 21:16 UTCVendor advisory
  7. 2026-09-18 21:16 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-09-18 19:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-09-18 19:20 UTCCISA KEV update
  10. 2026-09-18 17:24 UTCVendor advisory
  11. 2026-09-18 17:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-09-18 14:15 UTCCISA KEV update
  13. 2026-09-18 13:33 UTCVendor advisory
  14. 2026-09-18 13:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
  15. 2026-09-18 09:42 UTCVendor advisory
  16. 2026-09-18 09:42 UTCGHSA enrichment
  17. 2026-09-18 05:51 UTCVendor advisory
  18. 2026-09-18 05:51 UTCGHSA enrichment
  19. 2026-09-18 02:00 UTCVendor advisory
  20. 2026-09-18 02:00 UTCGHSA enrichment
  21. 2026-09-17 22:09 UTCEG score recompute
  22. 2026-09-17 22:09 UTCVendor advisory
  23. 2026-09-17 22:09 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-09-17 19:21 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-09-17 18:18 UTCVendor advisory
Show 75 more
  1. 2026-09-17 18:17 UTCGHSA enrichment
  2. 2026-09-17 14:26 UTCVendor advisory
  3. 2026-09-17 14:26 UTCGHSA enrichment
  4. 2026-09-17 10:35 UTCVendor advisory
  5. 2026-09-17 10:34 UTCGHSA enrichment
  6. 2026-09-17 06:42 UTCVendor advisory
  7. 2026-09-17 06:42 UTCGHSA enrichment
  8. 2026-09-17 02:51 UTCVendor advisory
  9. 2026-09-17 02:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
  10. 2026-09-16 22:57 UTCVendor advisory
  11. 2026-09-16 22:57 UTCGHSA enrichment
  12. 2026-09-16 19:05 UTCVendor advisory
  13. 2026-09-16 19:05 UTCGHSA enrichment
  14. 2026-09-16 15:14 UTCEG score recompute
  15. 2026-09-16 15:14 UTCVendor advisory
  16. 2026-09-16 15:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
  17. 2026-09-16 14:10 UTCCISA KEV update
  18. 2026-09-16 11:23 UTCVendor advisory
  19. 2026-09-16 11:22 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-09-16 07:32 UTCEG score recompute
  21. 2026-09-16 07:32 UTCVendor advisory
  22. 2026-09-16 07:32 UTCGHSA enrichment
  23. 2026-09-16 03:41 UTCVendor advisory
  24. 2026-09-16 03:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
  25. 2026-09-15 23:50 UTCVendor advisory
  26. 2026-09-15 23:49 UTCGHSA enrichment
  27. 2026-09-15 19:57 UTCVendor advisory
  28. 2026-09-15 19:57 UTCGHSA enrichment
  29. 2026-09-15 16:05 UTCVendor advisory
  30. 2026-09-15 16:05 UTCGHSA enrichment
  31. 2026-09-15 12:14 UTCVendor advisory
  32. 2026-09-15 12:14 UTCGHSA enrichment
  33. 2026-09-15 08:23 UTCVendor advisory
  34. 2026-09-15 08:23 UTCGHSA enrichment
  35. 2026-09-15 04:32 UTCEG score recompute
  36. 2026-09-15 04:32 UTCVendor advisory
  37. 2026-09-15 04:32 UTCGHSA enrichment
  38. 2026-09-15 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  39. 2026-09-15 00:41 UTCVendor advisory
  40. 2026-09-15 00:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
  41. 2026-09-14 20:50 UTCVendor advisory
  42. 2026-09-14 20:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
  43. 2026-09-14 19:24 UTCCISA KEV update
  44. 2026-09-14 16:59 UTCVendor advisory
  45. 2026-09-14 16:59 UTCGHSA enrichment
  46. 2026-09-14 13:08 UTCVendor advisory
  47. 2026-09-14 13:08 UTCGHSA enrichment
  48. 2026-09-14 09:17 UTCVendor advisory
  49. 2026-09-14 09:17 UTCGHSA enrichment
  50. 2026-09-14 05:26 UTCVendor advisory
  51. 2026-09-14 05:26 UTCGHSA enrichment
  52. 2026-09-14 01:35 UTCVendor advisory
  53. 2026-09-14 01:35 UTCGHSA enrichment
  54. 2026-09-13 21:44 UTCVendor advisory
  55. 2026-09-13 21:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
  56. 2026-09-13 17:53 UTCEG score recompute
  57. 2026-09-13 17:53 UTCVendor advisory
  58. 2026-09-13 17:53 UTCGHSA enrichment
  59. 2026-09-13 14:02 UTCVendor advisory
  60. 2026-09-13 14:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
  61. 2026-09-13 10:11 UTCVendor advisory
  62. 2026-09-13 10:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
  63. 2026-09-13 06:20 UTCVendor advisory
  64. 2026-09-13 06:20 UTCGHSA enrichment
  65. 2026-09-13 02:29 UTCVendor advisory
  66. 2026-09-13 02:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
  67. 2026-09-12 22:38 UTCVendor advisory
  68. 2026-09-12 22:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
  69. 2026-09-12 18:47 UTCVendor advisory
  70. 2026-09-12 18:47 UTCGHSA enrichment
  71. 2026-09-12 14:56 UTCEG score recompute
  72. 2026-09-12 14:56 UTCVendor advisory
  73. 2026-09-12 14:56 UTCGHSA enrichment
  74. 2026-09-12 14:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  75. 2026-09-12 11:05 UTCVendor advisory

Publicly available exploits

(3 references)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Metasploit module) (2 Exploit-DB entries). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • Exploit-DBEDB-44633✓ verified
    First seen May 16, 2018

    Libuser - 'roothelper' Local Privilege Escalation (Metasploit)

    Open source ↗
  • Exploit-DBEDB-37706✓ verified
    First seen Jul 27, 2015

    Libuser Library - Multiple Vulnerabilities

    Open source ↗
  • Metasploitexploit/linux/local/libuser_roothelper_priv_esc✓ verified
    First seen Jul 24, 2015

    Libuser roothelper Privilege Escalation

    Open source ↗

Related CVEs(same vendor + same CWE)

Frequently asked(6)

What is CVE-2015-3246?
CVE-2015-3246 is a critical vulnerability published on August 11, 2015. libuser before 0.56.13-8 and 0.60 before 0.60-7, as used in the userhelper program in the usermode package, directly modifies /etc/passwd, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (inconsistent file state) by causing an error during the modification. NOTE: this issue can be combined…
When was CVE-2015-3246 disclosed?
CVE-2015-3246 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on August 11, 2015, with the most recent update on August 27, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2015-3246 actively exploited?
Yes. CISA added CVE-2015-3246 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on August 26, 2026, affecting Red Hat Libuser. KEV listing indicates confirmed exploitation in the wild; this CVE warrants immediate patching attention.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2015-3246?
CVE-2015-3246 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.1 (CISA-ADP / Vulnrichment enrichment; NVD's own analysis pending). EchelonGraph synthesises NVD + CISA KEV + FIRST EPSS + GHSA into a combined EG score of 9.0.
Which products are affected by CVE-2015-3246?
CVE-2015-3246 affects Red Hat Libuser. The full affected-products list, including version ranges and fixed versions, is shown in the Affected Packages section of this page.
How do I remediate CVE-2015-3246?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2015-3246, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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