Medium (6.5). EPSS 0.3% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.
When etcupdate encounters conflicts while merging files, it saves a version containing conflict markers in /var/db/etcupdate/conflicts. This version does not preserve the mode of the input file, and is world-readable. This applies to files that would normally have restricted visibility, such as /etc/master.passwd.
An unprivileged local user may be able to read encrypted root and user passwords from the temporary master.passwd file created in /var/db/etcupdate/conflicts. This is possible only when conflicts within the password file arise during an update, and the unprotected file is deleted when conflicts are resolved.
Severity
CVSS 3.1
6.5 medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS
0.3% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days; higher than 22% of CVEs (scores of 2026-10-31)