CVE-2008-5137
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 · uneditedtkman in tkman 2.2 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a (1) /tmp/tkman##### or (2) /tmp/ll 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 confidencetkman 2.2 creates temporary files in /tmp with predictable names (/tmp/tkman##### or /tmp/ll) without checking for existing symlinks. A local attacker can pre-create a symlink with the same name pointing to an arbitrary target file, causing tkman to overwrite that file when writing to the temporary file.
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= 2.2CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify tkman installation and versionRun 'tkman --version' or check your package manager for tkman version (rpm -q tkman, dpkg -l tkman, etc.)Affected if The installed version is exactly 2.2
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Check /tmp permissions and accessibilityRun 'ls -ld /tmp' to verify /tmp permissions. Check if untrusted users can create files and symlinks in /tmpAffected if Untrusted local users can write to /tmp and create symlinks
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Inspect tkman temporary file creation behaviorExamine tkman source code or run 'strings' on the binary to search for '/tmp/tkman' and '/tmp/ll' patterns used for temporary filesAffected if The program uses predictable temp file names /tmp/tkman##### or /tmp/ll without O_EXCL or mkstemp()
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Check for existing symlink vulnerabilitiesMonitor or inspect /tmp for any existing symlinks named tkman***** or ll that could be hijacking tkman's temp file creationAffected if Symlinks exist in /tmp matching the tkman temp file pattern pointing to sensitive files
You are affected if tkman version 2.2 is installed and /tmp is writable by local untrusted users, allowing symlink attack on the predictable temporary file names.
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 mkstemp() or O_EXCL flag, which atomically create files and fail if a file (or symlink) already exists. Alternatively, use a private temporary directory with restricted permissions.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 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-2008-5137 — 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-2008-5137 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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