Enterprise LinuxOperating system · Redhat
CVE-2005-1061
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 · uneditedThe secure script in LogWatch before 2.6-2 allows attackers to prevent LogWatch from detecting malicious activity via certain strings in the secure file that are later used as part of a regular expression, which causes the parser to crash, aka "logwatch log processing regular expression DoS."
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 · moderate confidenceLogWatch's secure script processes log files and uses content from the secure log file as part of regular expression patterns. By inserting specially crafted strings into the secure log file, an attacker can cause the regex parser to crash, preventing LogWatch from detecting subsequent malicious activity. This is a denial-of-service vulnerability affecting LogWatch versions prior to 2.6-2.
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
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
= 2.1
Linux Advanced WorkstationOperating system
= 2.1= 2.6.2CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
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 LogWatch is installedRun 'rpm -q logwatch' on Red Hat systems or check for the LogWatch script in common locations like /usr/sbin/logwatch or /usr/share/logwatch/Affected if LogWatch is not installed, then this CVE does not apply
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Determine LogWatch versionRun 'logwatch --version' or check the RPM package version with 'rpm -qa | grep logwatch'Affected if The installed version is earlier than 2.6-2 (for example, 2.6.0, 2.6.1, or any 2.5.x version)
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Confirm the secure script existsLocate the 'secure' script or service definition used by LogWatch, typically found in /usr/share/logwatch/scripts/services/ or referenced in /etc/logwatch/conf/Affected if The secure script is present and configured to process /var/log/secure or similar authentication logs
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Check write access to log files processed by LogWatchInspect permissions on log files that LogWatch processes, particularly /var/log/secure. Use 'ls -la /var/log/secure' to see who can write to itAffected if Untrusted users or processes have write access to log files that LogWatch parses, allowing injection of malicious strings
A system is affected if LogWatch version is installed and is earlier than 2.6-2, the secure script processes log files, and those log files are writable by untrusted users who could inject the specially crafted strings that cause the regex DoS.
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 LogWatch to version 2.6-2 or later. Additionally, restrict write access to log files processed by LogWatch to trusted sources only to prevent attackers from injecting malicious strings.
Fix this in Enterprise Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2005-1061 — 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-2005-1061 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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