leviathan
cb39cc5119
The iconic 2016 LPE. Fills the 10-year coverage gap (now spanning
2016 → 2026): RHEL 6/7, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, embedded boxes,
IoT — many still in production with kernels predating the 4.9 fix.
- modules/dirty_cow_cve_2016_5195/iamroot_modules.{c,h}:
- kernel_range: backport thresholds for 2.6 / 3.2 / 3.10 / 3.12 /
3.16 / 3.18 / 4.4 / 4.7 / 4.8 / mainline 4.9
- dirty_cow_write(): Phil-Oester-style two-thread race
- mmap /etc/passwd MAP_PRIVATE (writes go COW)
- writer thread: pwrite to /proc/self/mem at COW page offset
- madviser thread: madvise(MADV_DONTNEED) to drop COW copy
- poll-read /etc/passwd via separate fd to check if payload landed
- 3-second timeout (race usually wins in ms on vulnerable kernels)
- dirty_cow_exploit(): getpwuid → find_passwd_uid_field → race
→ execlp(su)
- dirty_cow_cleanup(): POSIX_FADV_DONTNEED + drop_caches
- Auditd rule: /proc/self/mem writes + madvise MADV_DONTNEED
- Sigma rule: non-root /proc/self/mem open → high
- Makefile: -lpthread added to LDFLAGS for the binary link.
- iamroot.c + core/registry.h wired.
- CVES.md row added with detailed status; legend updated.
Verified end-to-end on kctf-mgr (6.12.86 — patched):
iamroot --scan → 'dirty_cow: kernel is patched' (OK)
iamroot --exploit dirty_cow --i-know
→ 'detect() says not vulnerable; refusing'
Module count = 12.
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.