CVE-2008-1274
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 · uneditedUntrusted search path vulnerability in man in IBM AIX 6.1.0 allows local users to execute arbitrary code via a malicious program in the man directory.
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 confidenceThe man command in IBM AIX 6.1.0 suffers from an untrusted search path vulnerability where it may execute programs from directories controlled by a local attacker (such as the man directory itself) rather than using fully qualified paths. This allows local users to place malicious executables that get invoked when other users or administrators run the man command.
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= 6.1.0CVSS 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
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:M/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 AIX version is 6.1.0Run 'oslevel -s' or 'oslevel' to check the installed AIX versionAffected if The version output shows exactly 6.1.0 (not a later patch level)
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Locate the man command binaryRun 'which man' and 'ls -la /usr/bin/man' to find the man binary locationAffected if The man command exists at any path on the system
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Check man command configuration filesExamine /etc/man.config or /etc/man.conf (if present) and any files in /etc/man.d/ for path directives using relative pathsAffected if Configuration references executables without fully qualified paths (e.g., 'groff' instead of '/usr/bin/groff')
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Inspect PATH environment for man-related directoriesRun 'echo $PATH' and check if any directories in the path are writable by non-root users, particularly those containing man-related executablesAffected if PATH includes directories writable by local users that could contain malicious executables with common names like 'groff', 'nroff', or 'tbl'
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Check man directory structure for writable directoriesRun 'ls -la' on /usr/share/man, /usr/local/man, and any custom manpath directories to identify writable locationsAffected if Any man directory or subdirectory is writable by non-root users
A system is affected if it is running AIX 6.1.0 and has writable directories in man command configuration or PATH that could allow a local attacker to place malicious executables.
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 dataEnsure the man command uses absolute paths for all executable references and that the PATH environment does not include writable directories. Apply IBM's security patch for AIX 6.1.0 when available, or review and harden the man command configuration to prevent execution from untrusted directories.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 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 $2,880.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-1274 — 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-2008-1274 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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