CVE-2023-26604

systemd before 247 does not adequately block local privilege escalation for some Sudo configurations, e.g., plausible sudoers files in which the "systemctl status" command may be executed. Specifically, systemd does not set LESSSECURE to 1, and thus other programs may be launched from the less program. This presents a substantial security risk when running systemctl from Sudo, because less executes as root when the terminal size is too small to show the complete systemctl output.

CVSS 3.1

7.8CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS

1.1% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days; higher than 64% of CVEs (scores of 2026-10-25)

CWE

CWE-269

Published

2023-03-03

Modified

2026-10-14

Record from

the NVD, synced 2026-10-19

Affected

• debian:debian_linux
• systemd_project:systemd

References

• http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/174130/systemd-246-Local-Root-Privilege-Escalation.html
• https://blog.compass-security.com/2012/10/dangerous-sudoers-entries-part-2-insecure-functionality/
• https://github.com/systemd/systemd/blob/main/NEWS#L4335-L4340
• https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/03/msg00032.html
• https://medium.com/%40zenmoviefornotification/saidov-maxim-cve-2023-26604-c1232a526ba7

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