CVE-2025-32463: Testing Sudo Chroot Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

CVE-2025-32463 Sudo Chroot Privilege Escalation Test Setup

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🛡️ Ethical Use Reminder: All tools and techniques discussed in this post are intended for ethical, legal, and educational use only. Only perform security testing on systems you own or have explicit permission to test. This content is for researchers, students, and professionals following responsible disclosure and legal guidelines.

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Learn how to safely test the critical sudo privilege escalation vulnerability CVE-2025-32463 that affects sudo versions 1.9.14 through 1.9.17.

This vulnerability allows any local user to escalate privileges to root, even without sudo permissions configured.

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⚠️ Warning

Only test this on systems you own and control. Do not test on production systems or systems you don’t have explicit permission to test.

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🔍 Step 1: Check Sudo Version

First, verify you have a vulnerable sudo version (1.9.14 through 1.9.17):

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👤 Step 2: Create Test User

As root or with sudo privileges, create a new unprivileged user:

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🚫 Step 3: Verify User Has No Sudo Privileges

Switch to the test user and confirm they have no sudo access:

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📝 Step 4: Create the Exploit Script

As the test user, create the CVE-2025-32463 proof-of-concept:

# Make the script executable

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🚀 Step 5: Run the Exploit Test

Execute the exploit to test the vulnerability:

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📊 Expected Results

On Vulnerable Systems:

• The script should output “woot!”
• You should get a root shell (# prompt)
• Running id should show uid=0(root) gid=0(root)

On Patched Systems:

• The exploit should fail
• You may see an error about the -R option being removed or not permitted

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✅ Step 6: Verify the Exploitation

If the exploit succeeds, verify you have root access:

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🧹 Step 7: Clean Up

Remove the test user and clean up:

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🔧 How the Exploit Works

• Stage Setup: Creates a temporary directory structure
• Malicious Library: Compiles a shared library with a constructor that elevates privileges
• NSS Configuration: Creates a fake nsswitch.conf that references the malicious library
• Chroot Abuse: Uses sudo -R to chroot into the controlled directory
• Library Loading: Sudo loads the malicious library during NSS operations, triggering privilege escalation

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🛡️ Mitigation

• Update to sudo 1.9.17p1 or later
• The chroot option is deprecated as of 1.9.17p1
• No workaround exists other than updating

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See our guide on updating SUDO: Patch CVE-2025-32463: Complete Sudo Update Guide

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🔍 Detection

Check system logs for sudo commands using chroot:

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CVE Alert: www.sudo.ws/security/advisories/chroot_bug/

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