leviathan
b6dd1e0482
Beyond per-CVE detect (--scan), --audit answers 'is this box generally
exposed to privesc?' — the sysadmin-persona question. Distinguishes
IAMROOT from CVE-only tools (linux-exploit-suggester) and broad-enum
tools (linPEAS): focused on the LPE-exposure surface specifically.
Four scan categories:
- setuid: walks common bin dirs via find(1) -perm -4000. Annotates
notable items: pkexec (Pwnkit history), fusermount3 (userns LPE
history), sudo/su/passwd (expected, verify-integrity), snap-confine
(Ubuntu snap escape history).
- world_writable: find /etc -perm -0002. Anything here = config edit
by unprivileged user. Should be empty on a healthy box.
- capability: getcap -r over bin dirs. Flags cap_setuid+ep /
cap_setgid+ep / cap_dac_override+ep / cap_sys_admin+ep specifically
as 'privesc-equivalent if attacker-writable'.
- sudo NOPASSWD: grep /etc/sudoers + /etc/sudoers.d. Many legit
service-account uses; flagged for operator review.
Output: human-readable table by default; --audit --json emits a single
JSON object with {audit: [findings...], summary: {category: count, ...}}.
Side-effect-free — read-only filesystem walks via popen(find/getcap/grep).
Fixed strncpy truncation warnings — switched to snprintf for path/note
copies into the finding struct.
iamroot.c MODE_AUDIT enum + --audit longopt + getopt 'A' + dispatcher
case. Usage block updated.
Verified end-to-end on Debian kctf-mgr:
iamroot --audit → 13 setuid binaries inventoried, 0 of the
other categories. pkexec correctly annotated.
iamroot --audit --json → summary object suitable for SIEM ingest.
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.
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/LSMiamroot --exploit <CVE>— run the named exploit (with--i-knowauthorization gate)iamroot --detect-rules— dump auditd / sigma / yara rules for every bundled CVE so blue teams can drop them into their toolingiamroot --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 themauto-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.