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CVE Record

CVE-2026-35535: In Sudo through 1.9.17p2 before 3e474c2, a failure of a setuid, setgid, or setgroups call, during a privile...

In Sudo through 1.9.17p2 before 3e474c2, a failure of a setuid, setgid, or setgroups call, during a privilege drop before running the mailer, is not a fatal error and can lead to privilege escalation.

HighCVSS 7.4Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysishigh

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

Sudo can mishandle a failed privilege drop before running its mailer. If that failure is not treated as fatal, an attacker may be able to escalate privileges locally. The issue is rated high, but the supplied evidence does not show confirmed active exploitation.

Executive priority

Prioritize patching in the next maintenance cycle, faster for shared or high-value systems with local users. This is a high-impact privilege-escalation issue, but current supplied evidence does not support emergency active-exploitation handling.

Technical view

CVE-2026-35535 affects Sudo through 1.9.17p2 before upstream commit 3e474c2. During mailer execution, failed setuid, setgid, or setgroups calls are not fatal, creating a privilege-escalation condition. CVSS is 7.4 with local attack vector, high complexity, no required privileges, and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.

Likely exposure

Exposure is most likely on Unix-like systems running vulnerable Sudo builds or vendor backports lacking the upstream fix. Distribution impact must be checked against vendor advisories because the source bundle shows vendor-specific tracking and errata rather than one universal package status.

Exploitation context

The source bundle marks KEV as false and provides no cited evidence of active exploitation. Exploitation is local and high complexity according to CVSS. Treat internet-facing status as less relevant than local-user access, shared systems, and environments where Sudo is broadly deployed.

Researcher notes

Key technical evidence is the upstream Sudo commit and vendor advisories. The affected-products data in the bundle is incomplete or inconsistent, so researchers should validate against downstream package changelogs and vendor security trackers before declaring specific platforms affected or fixed.

Mitigation direction

  • Apply Sudo updates from the operating system or appliance vendor.
  • Confirm the fix includes upstream commit 3e474c2 or an equivalent vendor backport.
  • Review Debian, Ubuntu, Red Hat, and appliance advisories for product-specific status.
  • Prioritize multi-user servers, admin workstations, and systems with untrusted local access.
  • If no vendor fix is available, follow vendor guidance for temporary risk reduction.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory installed Sudo versions across Linux and Unix-like assets.
  • Compare package versions with vendor advisories and errata, not only upstream version numbers.
  • Verify patched systems include the vendor fix for CVE-2026-35535.
  • Check vulnerability scanner findings against distribution-specific backport status.
  • Track exceptions where appliances or embedded products bundle Sudo.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
Sources
12

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.

ATT&CK lookup starting points

Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.

cwe · low confidence lookup

CWE-271: Exact CWE lookup

Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.

Open ATT&CK lookup
cwe · low confidence lookup

CWE-272: Exact CWE lookup

Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.

Open ATT&CK lookup
description · low confidence lookup

Privilege behavior lookup

The CVE wording references privilege impact, so privilege escalation and authorization behavior review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.

Open ATT&CK lookup
cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2026-35535 mapping review

Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
High
CVSS
7.4 (3.1)
Known Exploited
No
Published

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

Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

2CVSS vectors
5Timeline events
4ADP providers
34Source links

SSVC decision data

CISA-ADPCISA Coordinator
Timestamp
Version
2.0.3
Exploitation: noneAutomatable: noTechnical Impact: total

CVSS vector scores

2 official scores

We collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.

ScoreVersionSeverityVectorExploitImpactSource
7.4CVSS 3.1HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H1.45.9mitre
7.4CVSS 3.1HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H1.45.9redhat-SADP

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.1 score

7.4High
CVSS 3.1 vector shape for CVE-2026-35535Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

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

Attack Vector
NetworkAdjacentLocalPhysical
Attack Complexity
LowHigh
Privileges Required
NoneLowHigh
User Interaction
NoneRequired
Scope
ChangedUnchanged
Confidentiality Impact
HighLowNone
Integrity Impact
HighLowNone
Availability Impact
HighLowNone

Vulnerability timeline

Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.

  1. CVE reservedCVE Program

    The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.

  2. ADP timelineredhat-SADP

    Made public.

  3. CVE publishedCVE Program

    The CVE record was published.

  4. ADP timelineredhat-SADP

    Reported to Red Hat.

  5. CVE updatedCVE Program

    The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.

ADP provider summaries

CISA-ADPCISA ADP Vulnrichment
other:ssvc
siemens-SADPADP container
CVECVE Program Container
redhat-SADPsudo: Sudo: Privilege escalation due to failure in privilege drop calls
other:Red Hat severity ratingcvssV3_1
  • 2026-04-03T03:01:03.124Z: Reported to Red Hat.
  • 2026-04-03T02:21:33.584Z: Made public.

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
Sudo projectSudo0unaffected
Weakness

CWE details

CWE-271CWE-272

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.

CWE-271 · source CWE mapping

Privilege Dropping / Lowering Errors

Privilege Dropping / Lowering Errors represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.

Open CWE intelligenceSame-CWE CVEs
CWE-272 · source CWE mapping

Least Privilege Violation

Least Privilege Violation represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.

Open CWE intelligenceSame-CWE CVEs