Vulnerability · Published Apr 15, 2025 · Assigned by GitHub_M

CVE-2025-32438Local privilege escalation in make-initrd-ng

High 8.8

In plain English

A high-severity security flaw in nixpkgs from NixOS. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 8% of all known vulnerabilities).

Severity (CVSS 3.1)8.8High

Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 91.7% of all CVEs

Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none

Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

make-initrd-ng is a tool for copying binaries and their dependencies. Local privilege escalation affecting all NixOS users. With systemd.shutdownRamfs.enable enabled (the default) a local user is able to create a program that will be executed by root during shutdown. Patches exist for NixOS 24.11 and 25.05 / unstable. As a workaround, set systemd.shutdownRamfs.enable = false;.

Affected products (as reported)

Vendor	Product	Versions
NixOS	nixpkgs	< b17590193d8e5697000c23c66afcf11e1753734d< fbf76bf72b161b9f4ab97704a8258776d5f3ffba

Weakness: CWE-378, CWE-379 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

References

https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/security/advisories/GHSA-m7pq-h9p4-8rr4 x_refsource_CONFIRM
https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/commit/b17590193d8e5697000c23c66afcf11e1753734d x_refsource_MISC
https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/commit/fbf76bf72b161b9f4ab97704a8258776d5f3ffba x_refsource_MISC