CVE-2014-0189 in virt-who
Summary
by MITRE
virt-who uses world-readable permissions for /etc/sysconfig/virt-who, which allows local users to obtain password for hypervisors by reading the file.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/12/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-0189 affects the virt-who utility, a component used in Red Hat Enterprise Linux environments to report virtualization host information to Red Hat Subscription Manager. This issue stems from improper file permission handling within the virt-who configuration process, specifically concerning the /etc/sysconfig/virt-who file. The flaw represents a classic privilege escalation vector where sensitive authentication credentials are stored in a manner that grants read access to all local users on the system. This configuration error directly violates fundamental security principles of least privilege and proper access control enforcement.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the virt-who daemon creating configuration files with overly permissive world-readable permissions, typically set to 644 or similar modes that allow any user to read the contents. Within the /etc/sysconfig/virt-who file, authentication credentials for hypervisors are stored in plain text format, including usernames and passwords or API keys required for communication with virtualization platforms such as VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, or Red Hat Virtualization. When local users execute commands like cat /etc/sysconfig/virt-who or use file browsing utilities, they can directly extract these credentials without requiring any authentication or elevated privileges.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability creates significant security risks for organizations relying on virt-who for subscription management and virtualization monitoring. Attackers with local access to systems running virt-who can immediately obtain authentication credentials for hypervisor environments, potentially enabling them to perform unauthorized operations on virtual machines, access sensitive data within virtualized environments, or escalate their privileges further within the infrastructure. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous in multi-tenant environments or shared hosting scenarios where local users might not be trusted. According to CWE-732, this represents an incorrect permission assignment where the system grants permissions that are more permissive than necessary, and from an ATT&CK perspective, this maps to privilege escalation techniques under T1068 and credential access under T1003.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2014-0189 involve immediate remediation through proper file permission management and configuration hardening. System administrators should ensure that the /etc/sysconfig/virt-who file is owned by root with restrictive permissions, typically set to 600 or 640, preventing unauthorized access while maintaining necessary functionality for the virt-who service. The recommended approach includes implementing proper file ownership using chown root:root /etc/sysconfig/virt-who and setting restrictive permissions with chmod 600. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing automated configuration management tools like Ansible, Puppet, or Chef to maintain proper file permissions across multiple systems consistently. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of regular security audits and privilege reviews, particularly for configuration files containing sensitive credentials. Updates to the virt-who package through official Red Hat repositories should be applied immediately to address the root cause, as the upstream fix ensures that the utility creates files with appropriate permissions from the initial installation process. Organizations should also implement monitoring solutions to detect unauthorized access attempts to sensitive configuration files and establish proper logging mechanisms for credential usage within virtualization environments.