CVE-2008-5038
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 · uneditedUse-after-free vulnerability in the NetWare Core Protocol (NCP) feature in Novell eDirectory 8.7.3 SP10 before 8.7.3 SP10 FTF1 and 8.8 SP2 for Windows allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary code via a sequence of "Get NCP Extension Information By Name" requests that cause one thread to operate on memory after it has been freed in another thread, which triggers memory corruption, aka Novell Bug 373852.
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 analysisMemory is used after it has been freed, so its contents — now potentially attacker-controlled — drive the program's behaviour. With careful heap grooming this becomes code execution. The fix requires disciplined ownership of memory and often a targeted rework of the object lifecycle.
General guidance for the use after free class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
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< 8.7.3= 8.7.3= 8.8CVSS 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
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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.
dbcve · scoped8.7.3
eDirectory 8.7.3 SP10 FTF1 or eDirectory 8.8 SP2
- 1. Identify the current eDirectory version by running 'ndsd -v' or checking the installed version in the Novell iManager console
- 2. For eDirectory 8.7.3 SP10: Apply the FTF1 (First Technical Fix) patch from the vendor - refer to http://support.novell.com/docs/Readmes/InfoDocument/patchbuilder/readme_5037180.html
- 3. For eDirectory 8.8: Upgrade to SP2 or later to address the vulnerability
- 4. After applying the patch/upgrade, restart the eDirectory service (ndsd) to load the fixed components
- 5. Verify the fix by checking the version shows the patched build number and confirm NCP services are functioning normally
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-5038 — 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-2008-5038 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
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