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AixOperating system · Ibm

CVE-2008-1601

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 2008-03-31
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
Stack-based buffer overflow in the reboot program on IBM AIX 5.2 and 5.3 allows local users in the shutdown group to gain privileges.

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 confidence

A stack-based buffer overflow exists in the reboot program on IBM AIX 5.2 and 5.3. Local users who are members of the shutdown group can exploit this vulnerability to elevate their privileges beyond the intended permissions for that group.

MitigationApply the appropriate IBM AIX security patch for APAR IZ05851. Restrict membership in the shutdown group to only essential personnel until the patch can be applied.

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
AixOperating system
Affected:= 5.2= 5.3

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify AIX version
    Run `oslevel` to determine the installed AIX version
    Affected if The version is 5.2 or 5.3 (exact match)
  2. Check shutdown group membership
    Run `lsgroup shutdown` to view members of the shutdown group, or use `id <username>` to check specific user group membership
    Affected if Any user account is listed as a member of the shutdown group
  3. Confirm reboot binary location and permissions
    Run `ls -la /usr/sbin/reboot` to check if the reboot binary exists and view its permissions
    Affected if The reboot binary exists and is executable by the shutdown group
  4. Verify patch IZ05851 is not installed
    Run `instfix -ik IZ05851` to check if the IBM APAR patch is applied
    Affected if The command returns that the fix is not installed or the APAR is not found

System is affected if running AIX 5.2 or 5.3 with any user in the shutdown group and without patch IZ05851 installed.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the appropriate IBM AIX security patch for APAR IZ05851. Restrict membership in the shutdown group to only essential personnel until the patch can be applied.

Fix this in Aix Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2008-1601 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data