---
id: CVE-2023-3972
title: 'Insights-client: unsafe handling of temporary files and directories'
summary: >-
  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 be…
severity: high
cvss: 7.8
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
cvssSource: cna
cwe:
  - CWE-379
vendor: Red Hat
product: insights-client
affected:
  - insights-client (all versions)
  - insights-client (all versions)
  - insights-client (all versions)
  - insights-client (all versions)
  - insights-client (all versions)
  - insights-client (all versions)
  - insights-client (all versions)
  - insights-client (all versions)
  - insights-client (all versions)
  - insights-client (all versions)
  - insights-client (all versions)
  - insights-client (all versions)
  - insights-client
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: total
  timestamp: '2024-04-26T16:52:32.901290Z'
published: '2023-11-01'
updated: '2026-11-07'
sourceUpdated: '2026-11-07T11:32:03.642Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-3972'
references:
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6264'
    label: 'RHSA-2023:6264'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6282'
    label: 'RHSA-2023:6282'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6283'
    label: 'RHSA-2023:6283'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6284'
    label: 'RHSA-2023:6284'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6795'
    label: 'RHSA-2023:6795'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6796'
    label: 'RHSA-2023:6796'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6798'
    label: 'RHSA-2023:6798'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6811'
    label: 'RHSA-2023:6811'
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-3972'
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2227027'
    label: RHBZ#2227027
  - url: 'https://github.com/RedHatInsights/insights-core/pull/3878'
tags:
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00271
epssPercentile: 0.19606
ingestedAt: '2026-11-07T12:16:41.115Z'
---

## Overview

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).

## Affected

- `insights-client (all versions)`
- `insights-client (all versions)`
- `insights-client (all versions)`
- `insights-client (all versions)`
- `insights-client (all versions)`
- `insights-client (all versions)`
- `insights-client (all versions)`
- `insights-client (all versions)`
- `insights-client (all versions)`
- `insights-client (all versions)`
- `insights-client (all versions)`
- `insights-client (all versions)`
- `insights-client`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

### Workarounds

Red Hat has investigated whether a possible mitigation exists for this issue, and has not been able to identify a practical example. Please update the affected package as soon as possible.