Rapid7’s 2026 Global Cybersecurity Summit is now available on-demand.Watch sessions.
Rapid7

module

Ubuntu needrestart Privilege Escalation

Disclosed
Nov 19, 2024
Created
Jan 10, 2025

Description

Local attackers can execute arbitrary code as root by
tricking needrestart into running the Python interpreter with an
attacker-controlled PYTHONPATH environment variable.

Verified against Ubuntu 22.04 with needrestart 3.5-5ubuntu2.1
Attempted exploitation against Debian 12, expliotation failed

Authors

h00die
makuga01
qualys

Platform

Linux

Architectures

x86, x64

Module Options

To display the available options, load the module within the Metasploit console and run the commands 'show options' or 'show advanced':


msf > use exploit/linux/local/ubuntu_needrestart_lpe
msf exploit(ubuntu_needrestart_lpe) > show targets
...targets...
msf exploit(ubuntu_needrestart_lpe) > set TARGET < target-id >
msf exploit(ubuntu_needrestart_lpe) > show options
...show and set options...
msf exploit(ubuntu_needrestart_lpe) > exploit

Title
Rapid7 Labs

2026 Global Threat Landscape Report

The predictive window has collapsed. Exploitation follows disclosure in days. See how attackers are accelerating and how to stay ahead.