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MailscannerApplication

CVE-2008-5312

MEDIUM · 6.9 CVSS v2.0 Published 2008-12-03
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
mailscanner 4.55.10 and other versions before 4.74.16-1 might allow local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on certain temporary files used by the (1) f-prot-autoupdate, (2) clamav-autoupdate, (3) panda-autoupdate.new, (4) trend-autoupdate.new, and (5) rav-autoupdate.new scripts in /etc/MailScanner/autoupdate/, a different vulnerability than CVE-2008-5140.

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

MailScanner before 4.74.16-1 contains a symlink attack vulnerability in multiple autoupdate scripts (f-prot-autoupdate, clamav-autoupdate, panda-autoupdate.new, trend-autoupdate.new, rav-autoupdate.new) within /etc/MailScanner/autoupdate/. These scripts create temporary files in a predictable location without using secure methods (such as O_EXCL or mkstemp()), allowing local unprivileged users to pre-create symbolic links with the same filenames, causing the scripts to write to arbitrary files controlled by the attacker.

MitigationUpgrade to MailScanner 4.74.16-1 or later which addresses this vulnerability. Alternatively, restrict access to /etc/MailScanner/autoupdate/ to prevent untrusted local users from exploiting the insecure temporary file creation.

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
MailscannerApplication
Affected:= 4.55.10= 4.56.8-1= 4.57.7-1= 4.58.9-1= 4.59.4-2= 4.60.8-1= 4.61.7-2= 4.62.9-3= 4.63.8-1= 4.64.3-2= 4.65.3-1= 4.66.5-3

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 MailScanner is installed
    Run 'dpkg -l mailscanner' or 'rpm -qi MailScanner' or check '/usr/sbin/MailScanner --version'
    Affected if MailScanner is not installed or the command fails
  2. Verify the MailScanner version
    Run 'MailScanner --version' or check package version with dpkg/rpm
    Affected if The installed version is before 4.74.16-1 (versions 4.55.10 through 4.66.5-3 and other versions below 4.74.16-1)
  3. Check if autoupdate scripts exist in the vulnerable location
    List contents of /etc/MailScanner/autoupdate/ directory with 'ls -la /etc/MailScanner/autoupdate/'
    Affected if The directory contains any of these scripts: f-prot-autoupdate, clamav-autoupdate, panda-autoupdate.new, trend-autoupdate.new, rav-autoupdate.new
  4. Verify script permissions allow untrusted local access
    Run 'ls -la /etc/MailScanner/autoupdate/' and check if the directory and scripts are writable by non-root users
    Affected if The autoupdate directory or scripts are writable by users other than root (world-writable or group-writable with untrusted members)

You are affected if MailScanner is installed with a version before 4.74.16-1 AND the /etc/MailScanner/autoupdate/ directory contains the vulnerable autoupdate scripts AND untrusted local users can write to that directory.

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

Upgrade to MailScanner 4.74.16-1 or later which addresses this vulnerability. Alternatively, restrict access to /etc/MailScanner/autoupdate/ to prevent untrusted local users from exploiting the insecure temporary file creation.

Fix this in Mailscanner Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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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-2008-5312 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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data