CVE-2005-4158

MEDIUMCVSS v2 · 4.64.6—
EchelonGraph scoreLOW confidence

This CVE was only ever scored under CVSS v2.0. NVD CVSS v2.0 base 4.6 — v2 rates that MEDIUM (v2 bands: LOW 0.0–3.9 / MEDIUM 4.0–6.9 / HIGH 7.0–10.0; v2 has no CRITICAL band). Vector AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P. CVSS v2 is an older, coarser metric than v3.1/v4.0 (no Scope, no User Interaction, no Attack Requirements), so it is not directly comparable to a v3 or v4 score. NVD has never re-scored this record under v3. EPSS predicts 1.1% exploitation probability in the next 30 days, which is reflected in EG Risk but does not lift the v2 base. Confidence: LOW.

Sources: epss, nvd_v2
Weaponized
4.6EG
EchelonGraph verdictMonitorLow exploitation likelihood right now — keep watching.
  • Lower severity and no public exploit yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 1%CVSS v2: 4.6Exploit: Exploit-DB (verified) · public exploitExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

Sudo before 1.6.8 p12, when the Perl taint flag is off, does not clear the (1) PERLLIB, (2) PERL5LIB, and (3) PERL5OPT environment variables, which allows limited local users to cause a Perl script to include and execute arbitrary library files that have the same name as library files that are included by the script.

CVSS v2.0 (legacy)
4.6MEDIUMNVD never assigned a CVSS v3 rating to this CVE
EG Score
4.6(low)
EG Risk
51(Track)
EG Risk 51/100SSVC: Track

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity46% × 45%
Exploitation65% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
1%
EPSS %ILE
63%
KEV
Not listed

Published

December 11, 2005

Last Modified

April 16, 2026

References (38)

Patch Availability(2)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntusudo () @ hoary2026-05-31ubuntu
ubuntusudo () @ warty2026-05-31ubuntu

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Affected Packages

(6 across 6 ecosystems)
Debian:11(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
sudo—1.6.8p12-1—
Debian:12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
sudo—1.6.8p12-1—
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
sudo—1.6.8p12-1—
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
sudo—1.6.8p12-1—
Debian:3.0(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
sudo1.6.6-1.3, 1.6.6-1.3woody1, 1.6.6-1.4, 1.6.6-1.51.6.6-1.6—
Debian:3.1(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
sudo1.6.8p7-1.1, 1.6.8p7-1.1sarge1, 1.6.8p7-1.2, 1.6.8p7-1.31.6.8p7-1.4—

All Vendor Advisories

(2)

Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 2× in last 7d / 3× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-09-10 09:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-09-04 04:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-08-27 18:17 UTCOSV refresh
  4. 2026-08-11 07:31 UTCOSV refresh
  5. 2026-08-08 16:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-08-05 19:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-07-26 13:27 UTCEG score recompute▲ 4.60
  8. 2026-07-26 08:12 UTCOSV refresh
  9. 2026-07-25 14:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-07-24 14:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-07-23 00:49 UTCEG score recompute
  12. 2026-07-23 00:29 UTCEG score recompute
  13. 2026-07-22 23:53 UTCEG score recompute
  14. 2026-07-22 21:33 UTCEG score recompute
  15. 2026-07-18 09:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-07-18 09:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-07-15 16:53 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-07-15 01:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-07-15 01:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-07-13 22:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-07-13 06:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-07-13 06:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-07-11 08:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-07-11 08:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-07-09 02:15 UTCOSV refresh
Show 68 more
  1. 2026-07-08 15:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-06 02:19 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-06 02:19 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-07-02 14:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-07-01 15:01 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-06-29 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-06-29 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-28 04:52 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-06-27 03:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-06-25 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-06-24 14:01 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-06-23 21:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-06-22 14:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-06-22 14:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-21 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-06-20 14:42 UTCOSV refresh
  17. 2026-06-19 19:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-06-18 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-06-18 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-06-17 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-17 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-16 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-06-16 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-15 17:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-14 23:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-06-14 23:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-06-13 22:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  28. 2026-06-12 23:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-06-11 13:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-06-10 22:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-06-10 13:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  32. 2026-06-08 14:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  33. 2026-06-07 15:21 UTCEPSS rescore
  34. 2026-06-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  35. 2026-06-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  36. 2026-06-05 22:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  37. 2026-06-05 22:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  38. 2026-06-05 06:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  39. 2026-06-05 06:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  40. 2026-06-04 13:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  41. 2026-06-04 13:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  42. 2026-06-02 20:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  43. 2026-06-02 20:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  44. 2026-05-31 22:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  45. 2026-05-31 11:13 UTCEG score recompute
  46. 2026-05-31 11:13 UTCVendor advisory
  47. 2026-05-31 11:13 UTCGHSA enrichment
  48. 2026-05-31 00:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  49. 2026-05-31 00:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  50. 2026-05-29 13:40 UTCEPSS rescore
  51. 2026-05-29 13:40 UTCEPSS rescore
  52. 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  53. 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  54. 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  55. 2026-05-27 13:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  56. 2026-05-26 13:41 UTCEPSS rescore
  57. 2026-05-26 13:41 UTCEPSS rescore
  58. 2026-05-26 07:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  59. 2026-05-26 07:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  60. 2026-05-24 16:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  61. 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  62. 2026-05-22 09:46 UTCOSV refresh
  63. 2026-05-21 22:38 UTCEPSS rescore
  64. 2026-05-20 22:36 UTCEPSS rescore
  65. 2026-05-20 22:36 UTCEPSS rescore
  66. 2026-05-20 11:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  67. 2026-05-20 11:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  68. 2026-05-18 21:29 UTCEPSS rescore

Publicly available exploits

(3 references)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (3 Exploit-DB entries). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • Exploit-DBEDB-27056✓ verified
    First seen Jan 9, 2006

    Sudo 1.6.x - Environment Variable Handling Security Bypass (1)

    Open source ↗
  • Exploit-DBEDB-27057✓ verified
    First seen Jan 9, 2006

    Sudo 1.6.x - Environment Variable Handling Security Bypass (2)

    Open source ↗
  • Exploit-DBEDB-26498✓ verified
    First seen Nov 11, 2005

    Sudo Perl 1.6.x - Environment Variable Handling Security Bypass

    Open source ↗

Frequently asked(4)

What is CVE-2005-4158?
CVE-2005-4158 is a medium vulnerability published on December 11, 2005. Sudo before 1.6.8 p12, when the Perl taint flag is off, does not clear the (1) PERLLIB, (2) PERL5LIB, and (3) PERL5OPT environment variables, which allows limited local users to cause a Perl script to include and execute arbitrary library files that have the same name as library files that are…
When was CVE-2005-4158 disclosed?
CVE-2005-4158 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on December 11, 2005, with the most recent update on April 16, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2005-4158 actively exploited?
CVE-2005-4158 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 37.0% of all scored CVEs.
How do I remediate CVE-2005-4158?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2005-4158, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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