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CmanApplication · Redhat

CVE-2008-4192

MEDIUM · 6.9 CVSS v2.0 Published 2008-09-29
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
The pserver_shutdown function in fence_egenera in cman 2.20080629 and 2.20080801 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on the /tmp/eglog temporary file.

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

The fence_egenera tool in cman versions 2.20080629 and 2.20080801 creates a temporary log file at /tmp/eglog without proper symlink protection. A local attacker can create a symlink at /tmp/eglog pointing to an arbitrary file before the program runs, causing the program to overwrite the target file when pserver_shutdown executes.

MitigationReplace the insecure temporary file creation with safe methods such as using mkstemp() or open() with O_EXCL|O_CREAT flags to prevent symlink attacks, or ensure the parent directory has restricted permissions.

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
CmanApplication
Affected:= 2.20080629= 2.20080801

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. Check if cman package is installed
    Run 'rpm -q cman' or 'dpkg -l cman' depending on your Linux distribution
    Affected if The package is not installed, this CVE does not apply
  2. Determine cman version
    Run 'rpm -q --qf "%{VERSION}.%{RELEASE}" cman' or check package manager output
    Affected if Version is exactly 2.20080629 or 2.20080801
  3. Locate fence_egenera binary
    Run 'which fence_egenera' or 'find /usr -name fence_egenera 2>/dev/null'
    Affected if The fence_egenera tool exists and is executable on the system
  4. Inspect /tmp/eglog for symlink attack vector
    Run 'ls -la /tmp/eglog' to check if it is a symlink pointing to an arbitrary location
    Affected if A symlink exists at /tmp/eglog (indicating either active exploitation or prior vulnerability)

You are affected if cman version is exactly 2.20080629 or 2.20080801 and the fence_egenera tool is present and can write to /tmp/eglog.

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

Replace the insecure temporary file creation with safe methods such as using mkstemp() or open() with O_EXCL|O_CREAT flags to prevent symlink attacks, or ensure the parent directory has restricted permissions.

Fix this in Cman Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
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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-2008-4192 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
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