dbcve.org
TkusrApplication · Ldrolez

CVE-2008-5136

MEDIUM · 6.9 CVSS v2.0 Published 2008-11-18
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
tkusr in tkusr 0.82 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on the /tmp/tkusr.pgm 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 tkusr 0.82 application creates a temporary file at /tmp/tkusr.pgm without proper checks, allowing a local attacker to pre-create a symlink at that location. When tkusr writes to the file, it follows the symlink and overwrites the target file with attacker-controlled content.

MitigationReplace insecure temporary file creation with secure methods such as mkstemp() or File::Temp, or use a per-user temporary directory with restricted permissions to prevent symlink attacks.

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
TkusrApplication
Affected:= 0.82

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. Verify if tkusr is installed
    Run 'which tkusr' or check your package manager for the tkusr package
    Affected if tkusr is installed and version 0.82 is present
  2. Check tkusr version
    Run 'tkusr --version' or 'tkusr -v' to confirm the exact version number
    Affected if Version 0.82 is returned
  3. Inspect /tmp for pre-existing symlink
    Run 'ls -la /tmp/tkusr.pgm' to check if the file exists and whether it is a symlink
    Affected if A symlink exists at /tmp/tkusr.pgm pointing to a sensitive target file
  4. Verify /tmp directory permissions
    Run 'ls -ld /tmp' to confirm the directory permissions
    Affected if The /tmp directory lacks the sticky bit (mode is not 1777) or has overly permissive access
  5. Check for recent file creation activity
    Monitor or review audit logs for file creation events at /tmp/tkusr.pgm during tkusr execution
    Affected if The application creates /tmp/tkusr.pgm without using secure methods like mkstemp()

You are affected if tkusr version 0.82 is installed and the application creates the temporary file at /tmp/tkusr.pgm without proper symlink protection.

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 insecure temporary file creation with secure methods such as mkstemp() or File::Temp, or use a per-user temporary directory with restricted permissions to prevent symlink attacks.

Fix this in Tkusr Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-5136 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2008-5136 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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.

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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data