Os ProberApplication · Debian
CVE-2008-5135
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 · uneditedos-prober in os-prober 1.17 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on the (1) /tmp/mounted-map or (2) /tmp/raided-map temporary file. NOTE: the vendor disputes this issue, stating "the insecure code path should only ever run inside a d-i environment, which has no non-root users.
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 confidenceos-prober 1.17 is vulnerable to a symlink attack on temporary files /tmp/mounted-map and /tmp/raided-map. Local users can pre-create these as symlinks pointing to arbitrary files, causing os-prober to overwrite the target files when it runs. The vendor disputes the severity, claiming the code only runs in a debian-installer environment with no non-root users.
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
Os ProberApplication
= 1.17CVSS 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
- High
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
-
Check if os-prober is installedRun 'dpkg -l os-prober' or 'which os-prober' to see if the package is present on the systemAffected if os-prober is not installed at all, then the system is not affected by this specific vulnerability
-
Determine installed version of os-proberRun 'dpkg -s os-prober | grep Version' to retrieve the exact installed version numberAffected if The installed version is exactly 1.17, which matches the vulnerable version listed in the CVE
-
Inspect /tmp/mounted-map for symlink manipulationRun 'ls -la /tmp/mounted-map' to check if the file exists and whether it is a symlink pointing to an unexpected locationAffected if The file exists as a symlink pointing to a target you did not create, indicating a potential attacker's pre-positioned symlink
-
Inspect /tmp/raided-map for symlink manipulationRun 'ls -la /tmp/raided-map' to check if the file exists and whether it is a symlink pointing to an arbitrary locationAffected if The file exists as a symlink pointing to a target you did not create, indicating a potential attacker's pre-positioned symlink
A system is affected if os-prober version 1.17 is installed and either /tmp/mounted-map or /tmp/raided-map exists as a symlink to an unintended file or location.
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 dataReplace insecure temporary file creation with secure methods such as using mkstemp() with O_EXCL flag, or storing temp data in a user-specific directory with restricted permissions.
Fix this in Os Prober
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-5135 — 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-2008-5135 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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.
- 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