IAMROOT

A curated, actively-maintained corpus of Linux kernel LPE exploits — bundled with their detection signatures, patch status, and version ranges. Run it on a system you own (or are authorized to test) and it tells you which historical and recent CVEs that system is still vulnerable to, and — with explicit confirmation — gets you root.

 ██╗ █████╗ ███╗   ███╗██████╗  ██████╗  ██████╗ ████████╗
 ██║██╔══██╗████╗ ████║██╔══██╗██╔═══██╗██╔═══██╗╚══██╔══╝
 ██║███████║██╔████╔██║██████╔╝██║   ██║██║   ██║   ██║
 ██║██╔══██║██║╚██╔╝██║██╔══██╗██║   ██║██║   ██║   ██║
 ██║██║  ██║██║ ╚═╝ ██║██║  ██║╚██████╔╝╚██████╔╝   ██║
 ╚═╝╚═╝  ╚═╝╚═╝     ╚═╝╚═╝  ╚═╝ ╚═════╝  ╚═════╝    ╚═╝

⚠️ Authorized testing only. IAMROOT is a research and red-team tool. By using it you assert you have explicit authorization to test the target system. See docs/ETHICS.md.

Quickstart

# One-shot install (x86_64 / arm64; checksum-verified)
curl -sSL https://github.com/KaraZajac/IAMROOT/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sh

# What's this box vulnerable to?
sudo iamroot --scan

# Broader system hygiene (setuid binaries, world-writable, capabilities, sudo)
sudo iamroot --audit

# Deploy detection rules across every bundled module
sudo iamroot --detect-rules --format=auditd | sudo tee /etc/audit/rules.d/99-iamroot.rules

# Fleet scan (any-sized host list via SSH; aggregated JSON for SIEM)
./tools/iamroot-fleet-scan.sh --binary iamroot --ssh-key ~/.ssh/id_rsa hosts.txt

iamroot --help lists every command. See CVES.md for the curated CVE inventory and docs/DEFENDERS.md for the blue-team deployment guide.

What this is

Most Linux LPE references are dead repos, broken PoCs, or single-CVE deep-dives. IAMROOT is a living corpus: each CVE that lands here is empirically verified to work on the kernels it claims to target, CI-tested across a distro matrix, and ships with the detection signatures defenders need to spot it in their environment.

The same binary covers offense and defense:

• iamroot --scan — fingerprint the host, report which bundled CVEs apply, and which are blocked by patches/config/LSM
• iamroot --exploit <CVE> — run the named exploit (with --i-know authorization gate)
• iamroot --detect-rules — dump auditd / sigma / yara rules for every bundled CVE so blue teams can drop them into their tooling
• iamroot --mitigate — apply temporary mitigations for CVEs the host is vulnerable to (sysctl knobs, module blacklists, etc.)

Status

Active. Bootstrap phase as of 2026-05-16. First module (copy_fail_family) absorbed from the standalone DIRTYFAIL project and is verified working end-to-end on Ubuntu 26.04 + Alma 9 + Debian 13 with full AppArmor bypass + container escape demo + persistent backdoor mode.

See CVES.md for the full curated CVE list with patch status. See ROADMAP.md for the next planned modules.

Why this exists

The Linux kernel privilege-escalation space is fragmented:

• linux-exploit-suggester / linpeas: suggest applicable exploits, don't run them
• auto-root-exploit / kernelpop: bundle exploits, but largely stale, no CI, no defensive signatures
• Per-CVE single-PoC repos: usually one author, often abandoned within months of release, often only one distro

IAMROOT's bet is that there's room for a single curated bundle that (1) actively maintains a small set of high-quality exploits across a multi-distro matrix, and (2) ships detection rules alongside each exploit so the same project serves both red and blue teams.

Architecture

Each CVE (or tightly-related family) is a module under modules/. Modules export a standard interface: detect(), exploit(), mitigate(), cleanup(), plus metadata describing affected kernel ranges, distro coverage, and CI test matrix.

Shared infrastructure (AppArmor bypass, su-exploitation primitives, fingerprinting, common utilities) lives in core/.

See docs/ARCHITECTURE.md for the module-loader design and how to add a new CVE.

Build & run

make                          # build all modules
sudo ./iamroot --scan         # what's this box vulnerable to?
sudo ./iamroot --scan --json  # machine-readable output for CI/SOC pipelines
sudo ./iamroot --detect-rules --format=sigma > rules.yml
sudo ./iamroot --exploit copy_fail --i-know  # actually run an exploit

Acknowledgments

Each module credits the original CVE reporter and PoC author in its NOTICE.md. IAMROOT is the bundling and bookkeeping layer; the research credit belongs to the people who found the bugs.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.