Home/CVE/make-initrd-ng is a tool for copying binaries and their dependencies. Local privilege escalation affecting all NixOS use
CVE

CVE-2025-32438

make-initrd-ng is a tool for copying binaries and their dependencies. Local privilege escalation affecting all NixOS use

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;.

HIGH · CVSS 8.8 EPSS 0.00113
Schedule remediation
  • CVSS base score ≥ 7.0
Sigma rules0 YARA rules0
⬡

Weakness Classification

CWE-378Creation of Temporary File With Insecure Permissions
CWE-379Creation of Temporary File in Directory with Insecure Permissions
▣

Scoring & Timeline

8.8
HIGH · CVSS v3.1 · security-advisories@github.com
View on NVD
Attack Vector
Network Adjacent Local Physical
Attack Complexity
Low High
Privileges Required
None Low High
User Interaction
None Required
Scope
Unchanged Changed
Confidentiality
None Low High
Integrity
None Low High
Availability
None Low High
Published to NVD15 Apr 2025 · 08:15 PM
CVSS VectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
SSVC triage · cisa-vulnrichment
Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
SSVC asks the questions that actually drive patch urgency: is it being exploited, can attacks be automated, and how total is the impact.
🔗

References & Sources

3
Source URLs (vendor pages, mailing lists, write-ups). Exploit/PoC links are in their own section above to avoid duplication.
https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/commit/b17590193d8e5697000c23c66afcf11e1753734d
https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/commit/fbf76bf72b161b9f4ab97704a8258776d5f3ffba
https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/security/advisories/GHSA-m7pq-h9p4-8rr4
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