CVE-2004-0536
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedFormat string vulnerability in Tripwire commercial 4.0.1 and earlier, including 2.4, and open source 2.3.1 and earlier, allows local users to gain privileges via format string specifiers in a file name, which is used in the generation of an email report.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceFormat string vulnerability in Tripwire allows local privilege escalation. Attackers can embed format string specifiers (e.g., %s, %n) in filenames, which Tripwire then uses unsafely when generating email reports, potentially allowing execution of arbitrary code with elevated privileges.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 2.2.1= 2.3.0= 2.3.1= 2.3.1.2= 2.4.0= 2.4.2= 3.0= 3.0.1= 4.0= 4.0.1= 4.1CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Tripwire is installed and get version numberRun 'twversion --version' or check 'tripwire --version' or look in /etc/tripwire/ for version informationAffected if Version matches any of: 2.2.1, 2.3.0, 2.3.1, 2.3.1.2, 2.4.0, 2.4.2, 3.0, 3.0.1, 4.0, 4.0.1, or 4.1
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Confirm email reporting is enabledCheck Tripwire configuration files (twcfg.txt or twconfig) for email report settings, typically in /etc/tripwire/ or /opt/tripwire/etc/Affected if Email reporting (MAILTO or email report generation) is configured and active
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Check file system permissions on monitored directoriesReview permissions on directories being monitored by Tripwire (look at policy file twpol.txt) to see if untrusted users can create filesAffected if Untrusted local users have write access to any directory or path that Tripwire monitors and will include in integrity checks
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Inspect for suspicious filenames with format specifiersUse 'tripwire --check' output or review recent file creation in monitored paths for filenames containing %s, %n, %x, or other format string charactersAffected if Filenames containing format string specifiers (%s, %n, %d, %x, etc.) exist in monitored directories
You are affected if Tripwire version is one of the listed vulnerable versions AND email reporting is enabled AND untrusted users can create files in monitored paths.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpgrade Tripwire to a version beyond the vulnerable releases (commercial 4.0.1/open source 2.3.1). If immediate upgrade is not possible, restrict file creation permissions for untrusted local users and monitor for suspicious filenames containing format specifiers.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2004-0536 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2004-0536 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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