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Altiris Deployment SolutionApplication · Symantec

CVE-2008-2289

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 2008-05-18
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
Unspecified vulnerability in a tooltip element in Symantec Altiris Deployment Solution 6.8.x and 6.9.x before 6.9.176 allows local users to gain privileges via unknown attack vectors.

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 local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the tooltip element of Symantec Altiris Deployment Solution versions 6.8.x and 6.9.x before 6.9.176. The vulnerability allows local users to elevate their privileges, likely through manipulation of the tooltip component's behavior or interaction with the underlying application. The attack vector is local, requiring authenticated access to the system where Altiris is installed.

MitigationApply the vendor patch by upgrading to Symantec Altiris Deployment Solution 6.9.176 or later. Until patched, limit local user access to systems running Altiris and monitor for suspicious interactions with the application.

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
Altiris Deployment SolutionApplication
Affected:= 6.0= 6.5.248= 6.5.299= 6.8= 6.8.378= 6.8.380.0= 6.8_sp1= 6.8_sp2= 6.9= 6.9.164

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 Altiris Deployment Solution is installed
    Check the Windows registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for an entry named 'Symantec Altiris Deployment Solution' or look for the installation directory (typically C:\Program Files\Altiris or C:\Program Files (x86)\Altiris)
    Affected if The product is present on the system
  2. Identify installed version
    Open Windows Registry Editor and navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Altiris\Altiris Deployment Solution\ or check the 'Version' value in the uninstall registry key. Alternatively, right-click the Altiris agent icon if present and select 'About' or 'Version Information'
    Affected if The version matches any of: 6.0, 6.5.248, 6.5.299, 6.8, 6.8.378, 6.8.380.0, 6.8_sp1, 6.8_sp2, 6.9, or 6.9.164 (or any version below 6.9.176 in the 6.8.x or 6.9.x branches)
  3. Confirm tooltip component is accessible
    Check if the Altiris Deployment Solution client console or agent is installed and functional. Look for the Altiris notification agent (axtss.exe) or the deployment solution console component that exposes the tooltip functionality to local users
    Affected if The Altiris client/agent is running and accessible to authenticated local users
  4. Review local user account changes
    Check Windows Event Viewer under Security logs for Event ID 4720 (user account created), 4722 (user account enabled), 4723 (password change attempt), or 4728 (member added to security-enabled global group). Also check for new local administrator accounts using 'net localgroup Administrators'
    Affected if New local user accounts or unexpected group membership changes occurred after Altiris installation
  5. Audit user privileges on the system
    Run 'whoami /all' and compare against expected baseline. Check for unexpected SIDs in token groups. Review NTUSER.DAT files in C:\Users for any new profile directories indicating account creation
    Affected if There are additional user accounts or elevated privileges present that were not intentionally created

If Symantec Altiris Deployment Solution is installed and the version is 6.8.x or 6.9.x before 6.9.176, and the tooltip component is accessible to authenticated local users, the system is potentially affected by this privilege escalation vulnerability.

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 vendor patch by upgrading to Symantec Altiris Deployment Solution 6.9.176 or later. Until patched, limit local user access to systems running Altiris and monitor for suspicious interactions with the application.

Fix this in Altiris Deployment Solution Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,800
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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-2008-2289 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