CVE-2025-15480 Overview
CVE-2025-15480 is an information disclosure vulnerability in Ubuntu's ubuntu-desktop-provision package version 24.04.4. This vulnerability allows sensitive user credentials to be inadvertently leaked during the crash reporting process. When an installation failure occurs and a user submits a bug report to Launchpad, the ubuntu-desktop-provision tool may include the user's password hash in the attached log files, potentially exposing this sensitive authentication data to unintended parties.
Critical Impact
User password hashes could be exposed through bug reports submitted to Launchpad, potentially allowing attackers with access to these reports to conduct offline password cracking attacks.
Affected Products
- Ubuntu Desktop Provision version 24.04.4
- Ubuntu systems using the affected provisioning tool during installation
Discovery Timeline
- 2026-04-09 - CVE-2025-15480 published to NVD
- 2026-04-09 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2025-15480
Vulnerability Analysis
This vulnerability falls under CWE-1258 (Exposure of Sensitive System Information Due to Uncleared Debug Information). The core issue stems from improper handling of sensitive data in debug and crash reporting mechanisms. During the Ubuntu desktop installation process, if a failure occurs and the user opts to submit a bug report, the logging mechanism captures more data than intended, including password hashes that should never be transmitted externally.
The exposure occurs through the network attack vector, though it requires specific conditions to be exploited—namely, an installation failure followed by the user actively submitting a bug report. The attack complexity is low once these conditions are met, as no additional privileges or user interaction beyond the initial bug report submission are required to access the leaked data.
Root Cause
The root cause of this vulnerability lies in the crash reporting functionality within ubuntu-desktop-provision. The logging mechanism fails to properly sanitize or filter sensitive authentication data before including it in crash report attachments. When debug logs are generated during an installation failure, the password hash data is captured alongside other diagnostic information. The lack of proper data filtering means this sensitive information is then transmitted to Launchpad when users submit bug reports.
Attack Vector
The attack scenario requires the following conditions:
- A user must be performing a fresh Ubuntu installation using ubuntu-desktop-provision version 24.04.4
- The installation process must encounter a failure that triggers the crash reporting mechanism
- The user must choose to submit a bug report to Launchpad
- An attacker must then gain access to the submitted bug report (either through legitimate access to the bug tracker or through other means)
Once an attacker obtains the exposed password hash, they could attempt offline password cracking attacks using tools like hashcat or John the Ripper to recover the plaintext password.
Detection Methods for CVE-2025-15480
Indicators of Compromise
- Review submitted bug reports to Launchpad for the presence of password hash data in attached log files
- Check local crash report logs in /var/crash/ for sensitive credential information
- Examine ubuntu-desktop-provision log files for password hash exposure
- Monitor for unusual access patterns to bug reports containing installation failures
Detection Strategies
- Implement file integrity monitoring on crash reporting directories to detect when sensitive data is written to logs
- Deploy data loss prevention (DLP) solutions to scan outgoing crash reports for credential patterns
- Configure SIEM rules to alert on ubuntu-desktop-provision crash events followed by network transmissions
- Review Launchpad bug submissions from your organization for potential credential exposure
Monitoring Recommendations
- Enable enhanced logging for installation processes to capture when crash reports are generated
- Monitor network traffic for submissions to Launchpad bug reporting endpoints during installation failures
- Implement alerting for any crash dumps generated by ubuntu-desktop-provision
How to Mitigate CVE-2025-15480
Immediate Actions Required
- Avoid submitting bug reports during installation failures until the system is patched
- Review any previously submitted bug reports for credential exposure and request removal if necessary
- Update ubuntu-desktop-provision to the patched version as soon as available
- Change passwords for any user accounts that may have had their hashes exposed
Patch Information
Canonical has addressed this vulnerability through pull requests to the ubuntu-desktop-provision repository. The fixes are available at:
Users should update their ubuntu-desktop-provision package to incorporate these fixes. Run the following command to update:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade ubuntu-desktop-provision
Workarounds
- Decline to submit bug reports during installation failures until the patch is applied
- Manually review and redact any sensitive information from crash logs before submitting bug reports
- If a bug report has already been submitted, contact Launchpad administrators to request removal of sensitive attachments
- Consider changing user passwords after installation if bug reports were submitted during failed installation attempts
# Check installed version of ubuntu-desktop-provision
dpkg -l | grep ubuntu-desktop-provision
# Verify if you have the patched version
apt-cache policy ubuntu-desktop-provision
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
