Some functions that implement the locale subsystem on Unix do not properly cleanse user-injected format strings, which allows local attackers to execute arbitrary commands via functions such as gettext and catopen.
The (1) rcS and (2) mountall programs in Sun Solaris 2.x, possibly before 2.4, start a privileged shell on the system console if fsck fails while the system is booting, which allows attackers with physical access to gain root privileges.
The Red Hat Linux su program does not log failed password guesses if the su process is killed before it times out, which allows local attackers to conduct brute force password guessing.