CVE-2023-3972: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 · Creation of Temporary File in Directory with Insecure Permissions
Affects Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7Source CVE Database V5
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.8 High.
Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC
- EPSS
- 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 18% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 1 Nov 2023
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors
A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-25.
What to do
AI-suggested
1. Immediately restrict local user permissions to prevent unprivileged users from creating or modifying the /var/tmp/insights-client directory before the insights-client is registered by root. 2. Implement strict filesystem permissions and ownership checks on /var/tmp and related temporary directories to prevent unauthorized directory creation. 3. Monitor and audit file system changes in /var/tmp for suspicious activity, especially creation of directories or files related to insights-client. 4. Apply any available patches or updates from Red Hat as soon as they are released to address this vulnerability. 5. Consider disabling or limiting the use of insights-client if it is not essential, or isolate systems where it is used to reduce exposure. 6. Employ mandatory access control policies and enhanced monitoring to detect attempts to exploit this vulnerability. 7. Educate system administrators about the risks of insecure temporary file handling and the importance of secure directory permissions. 8. Use tools to verify SELinux status and ensure it is properly enforced except where explicitly required to be disabled by trusted processes.
Description
A vulnerability was found in insights-client. This security issue occurs because of insecure file operations or unsafe handling of temporary files and directories that lead to local privilege escalation. Before the insights-client has been registered on the system by root, an unprivileged local user or attacker could create the /var/tmp/insights-client directory (owning the directory with read, write, and execute permissions) on the system. After the insights-client is registered by root, an attacker could then control the directory content that insights are using by putting malicious scripts into it and executing arbitrary code as root (trivially bypassing SELinux protections because insights processes are allowed to disable SELinux system-wide).
References
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6264 (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6282 (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6283 (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6284 (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6795 (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6796 (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6798 (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6811 (opens in a new tab)
- access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-3972 (opens in a new tab)
- bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2227027 (opens in a new tab)
- github.com/RedHatInsights/insights-core/pull/3878 (opens in a new tab)