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EtermApplication

CVE-2008-1692

MEDIUM · 6.9 CVSS v2.0 Published 2008-04-07
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
74/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Eterm 0.9.4 opens a terminal window on :0 if -display is not specified and the DISPLAY environment variable is not set, which might allow local users to hijack X11 connections. NOTE: realistic attack scenarios require that the victim enters a command on the wrong machine.

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 confidence

Eterm 0.9.4 terminal emulator defaults to opening on display :0 when neither the -display command-line argument is provided nor the DISPLAY environment variable is set. This behavior can allow local users to hijack X11 connections by having the victim's terminal window appear on a display the attacker controls or has access to.

MitigationUsers should ensure DISPLAY is properly configured and avoid running Eterm on shared systems without explicit display specification. Consider using the -display flag explicitly or setting DISPLAY before launching terminal applications.

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
EtermApplication
Affected:= 0.9.4

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
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 checks

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

  1. Identify installed Eterm version
    Run 'eterm --version' or 'Eterm --version' to get the exact version number, or check your package manager (dpkg -l eterm, rpm -qa eterm)
    Affected if Version is exactly 0.9.4
  2. Verify DISPLAY environment variable is unset in your shell
    Run 'echo $DISPLAY' before launching Eterm. If empty or not shown, the variable is not set
    Affected if DISPLAY environment variable is not set (empty output)
  3. Observe which display Eterm connects to by default
    Launch Eterm without -display flag and without DISPLAY set; check what display appears in 'xdotool getwindowfocus getwindowpid' then 'ps -p <pid> -o args=' or use 'xwininfo -root -tree' to see where the window appears
    Affected if Eterm defaults to display :0 when neither -display nor DISPLAY is provided

You are affected if Eterm version 0.9.4 is installed AND you run it without setting DISPLAY or using the -display flag, causing it to default to display :0 where an attacker could intercept your X11 session.

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

Users should ensure DISPLAY is properly configured and avoid running Eterm on shared systems without explicit display specification. Consider using the -display flag explicitly or setting DISPLAY before launching terminal applications.

Fix this in Eterm Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,730
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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-2008-1692 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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