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AdminutilApplication · Redhat

CVE-2008-2932

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2008-09-12
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable 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
Heap-based buffer overflow in Red Hat adminutil 1.1.6 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via % (percent) encoded HTTP input to unspecified CGI scripts in Fedora Directory Server. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incorrect fix for CVE-2008-2929.

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

Heap-based buffer overflow in Red Hat adminutil 1.1.6 allows remote attackers to cause denial of service or potentially execute arbitrary code via percent-encoded HTTP input to unspecified CGI scripts in Fedora Directory Server. This vulnerability exists because of an incorrect fix for the earlier CVE-2008-2929.

MitigationApply the corrected patch/update to adminutil 1.1.6 or later in the Fedora Directory Server environment, and validate that CGI scripts properly handle percent-encoded input.

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
AdminutilApplication
Affected:= 1.1.6

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

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 if Red Hat adminutil is installed
    Run 'rpm -qa | grep adminutil' or check for the adminutil package in your package manager
    Affected if adminutil version 1.1.6 is installed
  2. Verify the adminutil version number
    Run 'rpm -q adminutil' or 'rpm -qi adminutil' to retrieve the exact version
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 1.1.6
  3. Determine if Fedora Directory Server is running
    Check for running 'dirsrv' processes or query the directory server status via 'ns-slapd -D' status or systemctl status dirsrv
    Affected if Fedora Directory Server or 389 Directory Server is actively running
  4. Check if adminutil CGI scripts are web-exposed
    Inspect web server configuration (httpd.conf or Apache) for CGI script aliases pointing to adminutil, typically under /adminutil/cgi-bin/ or similar paths
    Affected if CGI scripts using adminutil are accessible via HTTP on the web server
  5. Verify CGI execution is enabled for adminutil
    Confirm that the CGI directory containing adminutil scripts is configured with 'Options +ExecCGI' and CGI execution is permitted in the web server config
    Affected if CGI execution is enabled and the adminutil CGI interface responds to HTTP requests

You are affected if adminutil version 1.1.6 is installed alongside a running Fedora Directory Server with its adminutil CGI scripts exposed and executable via HTTP.

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 corrected patch/update to adminutil 1.1.6 or later in the Fedora Directory Server environment, and validate that CGI scripts properly handle percent-encoded input.

Fix this in Adminutil Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,840
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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-2008-2932 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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