CVE-2005-1879
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 · uneditedLutelWall 0.97 and earlier allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a temporary file created by a system call to wget.
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 confidenceLutelWall 0.97 and earlier creates temporary files insecurely when invoking wget to download files. A local attacker can create a symbolic link at the known temporary file path before wget runs, causing wget to follow the symlink and overwrite the target file with arbitrary content.
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< 0.98CVSS 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
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
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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Identify LutelWall installation and versionRun 'rpm -q lutelwall' or 'dpkg -l lutelwall' or check /usr/sbin/lutelwall --version to determine the installed versionAffected if Version is 0.97 or earlier (versions below 0.98)
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Locate LutelWall scripts and configuration filesSearch for LutelWall binary and scripts in common locations such as /usr/sbin/, /usr/local/sbin/, or /etc/lutelwall/. Check for files like lutelwall, lutelwall.conf, or any shell scripts in the installation directoryAffected if LutelWall is installed and scripts exist that may invoke wget
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Identify wget usage in LutelWall scriptsGrep for 'wget' in LutelWall configuration or script files. Examine any scripts that perform network downloads to determine if wget is being calledAffected if wget is invoked by LutelWall to download files from the network
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Determine the temporary file path used by wgetExamine the LutelWall scripts for temporary file creation or file download operations. Look for variables or hardcoded paths that define where wget stores downloaded contentAffected if A predictable, fixed temporary file path is used (not a secure random name)
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Check permissions on the temporary file locationIdentify the directory where temporary files are created (commonly /tmp or /var/tmp). Verify if unprivileged local users can create symbolic links in that directoryAffected if The temp directory is world-writable and allows symlink creation, enabling a local attacker to pre-create a symlink to overwrite arbitrary files
A system is affected if LutelWall version 0.97 or earlier is installed, uses wget for downloads, employs a predictable temporary file path, and the temp directory permits symlink creation by local users.
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 data0.98
Upgrade to a patched version of LutelWall; if no patched version exists, migrate to a maintained firewall solution. The fix requires using secure temporary file creation (e.g., mkstemp) or ensuring the temp file location is secured before the wget call.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2005-1879 — 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-2005-1879 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
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