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FlamethrowerApplication · Dann Frazier

CVE-2008-5141

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
flamethrower in flamethrower 0.1.8 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a /tmp/multicast.tar.##### 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 flamethrower 0.1.8 application creates temporary files with a predictable naming pattern (/tmp/multicast.tar.#####) without proper validation. A local attacker can exploit this by pre-creating a symbolic link with the same name, causing the application to overwrite the target file (arbitrary file overwrite) when it writes to the symlink.

MitigationReplace insecure temporary file creation with secure methods such as using mkstemp() with O_EXCL flag, or creating files in a temporary directory with restricted permissions (e.g., via the File::Temp Perl module or equivalent). Apply file permissions to ensure only the intended user can access temporary files.

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
FlamethrowerApplication
Affected:= 0.1.8

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. Check if flamethrower is installed
    Run 'which flamethrower' or check for the binary in common paths like /usr/bin/flamethrower, /usr/local/bin/flamethrower
    Affected if The flamethrower binary exists on the system
  2. Verify the installed version is 0.1.8
    Run 'flamethrower --version' or 'rpm -q flamethrower' (if installed via RPM) and compare the output to 0.1.8
    Affected if The version listed is exactly 0.1.8
  3. Confirm temporary file creation behavior
    Run the flamethrower application and monitor file creation in /tmp using 'ls -la /tmp/multicast.tar.*' during execution
    Affected if The application creates files matching the pattern /tmp/multicast.tar.##### in /tmp
  4. Check /tmp directory permissions
    Run 'ls -ld /tmp' to verify other users have write access (typical on most systems)
    Affected if The /tmp directory is world-writable, allowing local users to create symlinks

If flamethrower version 0.1.8 is installed and creates temporary files in /tmp with the predictable multicast.tar.##### pattern, the system is affected by this vulnerability.

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 using mkstemp() with O_EXCL flag, or creating files in a temporary directory with restricted permissions (e.g., via the File::Temp Perl module or equivalent). Apply file permissions to ensure only the intended user can access temporary files.

Fix this in Flamethrower Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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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-2008-5141 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
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