CVE-2008-4413
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 · uneditedUnspecified vulnerability in HP System Management Homepage (SMH) 2.2.6 and earlier on HP-UX B.11.11 and B.11.23, and SMH 2.2.6 and 2.2.8 and earlier on HP-UX B.11.23 and B.11.31, allows local users to gain "unauthorized access" via unknown vectors, possibly related to temporary file permissions.
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 confidenceLocal privilege escalation vulnerability in HP System Management Homepage (SMH) on HP-UX where local users can gain unauthorized access, likely through improper temporary file permissions allowing manipulation of files in /tmp or similar directories.
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<= 2.2.6= 2.0.0= 2.0.1= 2.0.2= 2.1= 2.1.0-103= 2.1.0-103\(a\)= 2.1.0-109= 2.1.0-118= 2.1.1= 2.1.2= 2.1.2-127CVSS 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
- Single
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- None
AV:L/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:N
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm HP SMH is installedRun 'swlist -l product | grep -i smh' or check for /opt/hp/hpsmh directory on HP-UXAffected if HP System Management Homepage is not installed on the system
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Identify installed SMH versionAccess the SMH web interface and view version info, or run 'swlist -l product HPSMH' to list the installed versionAffected if The installed version matches <= 2.2.6, or specific versions 2.0.0, 2.0.1, 2.0.2, 2.1, 2.1.0-103, 2.1.0-103(a), 2.1.0-109, 2.1.0-118, 2.1.1, 2.1.2, or 2.1.2-127
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Locate SMH temporary filesRun 'ls -la /tmp' and look for files owned by the SMH user (typically 'www' or 'nobody') or files matching patterns like 'hp.*', 'smh.*', or '*tmp*' created by SMH processesAffected if Temporary files created by SMH exist in /tmp with insecure permissions such as world-writable (o+w) or world-readable/writable (666, 777)
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Verify /tmp directory permissionsRun 'ls -lad /tmp' to confirm /tmp has the sticky bit (mode 1777) and is not world-writable without the sticky bitAffected if The /tmp directory lacks proper sticky bit (drwxrwxrwt) which allows arbitrary file manipulation
The system is affected if HP System Management Homepage version 2.2.6 or below (including the specific listed versions) is installed on HP-UX and temporary files in /tmp created by SMH have overly permissive access rights.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpgrade HP System Management Homepage to a version beyond 2.2.8 (or vendor-patched version) on affected HP-UX systems; alternatively, restrict local user permissions and ensure strict temporary file permissions.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-4413 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2008-4413 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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