Improper Check for Dropped Privileges Affecting zsh package, versions <5.8-1


Severity

Recommended
0.0
high
0
10

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Threat Intelligence

EPSS
0.09% (27th percentile)

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  • Snyk IDSNYK-DEBIAN14-ZSH-11775232
  • published10 Aug 2025
  • disclosed24 Feb 2020

Introduced: 24 Feb 2020

CVE-2019-20044  (opens in a new tab)
CWE-273  (opens in a new tab)

How to fix?

Upgrade Debian:14 zsh to version 5.8-1 or higher.

NVD Description

Note: Versions mentioned in the description apply only to the upstream zsh package and not the zsh package as distributed by Debian. See How to fix? for Debian:14 relevant fixed versions and status.

In Zsh before 5.8, attackers able to execute commands can regain privileges dropped by the --no-PRIVILEGED option. Zsh fails to overwrite the saved uid, so the original privileges can be restored by executing MODULE_PATH=/dir/with/module zmodload with a module that calls setuid().

CVSS Base Scores

version 3.1