In Shadow 4.13, it is possible to inject control characters into fields provided to the SUID program chfn (change finger). Although it is not possible to exploit this directly (e.g., adding a new user fails because \n is in the block list), it is possible to misrepresent the /etc/passwd file when viewed. Use of \r manipulations and Unicode characters to work around blocking of the : character make it possible to give the impression that a new user has been added. In other words, an adversary may be able to convince a system administrator to take the system offline (an indirect, social-engineered denial of service) by demonstrating that "cat /etc/passwd" shows a rogue user account.
Fix
Patch, vendor advisory and mitigation references on NVD 2
- https://github.com/shadow-maint/shadow/commit/e5905c4b84d4fb90aefcd96ee618411ebfac663d Patch
- https://github.com/shadow-maint/shadow/commit/e5905c4b84d4fb90aefcd96ee618411ebfac663d Patch
Every line above is quoted from NVD, CISA, Microsoft, the vendor's own advisory or DISA; nothing is generated.
Change history 1
- First seenCVSS 3.3 · shadow_projectNVD modified 2026-10-14 23:17
Affected (CPE criteria) 1
cpe:2.3:a:shadow_project:shadow:4.13:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
References 11
- https://github.com/shadow-maint/shadow/commit/e5905c4b84d4fb90aefcd96ee618411ebfac663d Patch
- https://github.com/shadow-maint/shadow/pull/687 Issue Tracking
- https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/resources/blogs/spiderlabs-blog/cve-2023-29383-abusing-linux-chfn-to-misrepresent-etc-passwd/ Exploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/resources/security-resources/security-advisories/?fid=31797 Exploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://github.com/shadow-maint/shadow/commit/e5905c4b84d4fb90aefcd96ee618411ebfac663d Patch
- https://github.com/shadow-maint/shadow/pull/687 Issue Tracking
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/04/msg00026.html
- https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/resources/blogs/spiderlabs-blog/cve-2023-29383-abusing-linux-chfn-to-misrepresent-etc-passwd/ Exploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/resources/security-resources/security-advisories/?fid=31797 Exploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-202008.html
- https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-398330.html