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CmusApplication

CVE-2008-5375

MEDIUM · 6.9 CVSS v2.0 Published 2008-12-08
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
cmus-status-display in cmus 2.2.0 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on the /tmp/cmus-status 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 cmus-status-display utility in cmus 2.2.0 creates a temporary file at /tmp/cmus-status without checking for existing symlinks. A local attacker can pre-create a symlink at this path pointing to an arbitrary file (e.g., a system file), causing cmus-status-display to overwrite that target file when it runs.

MitigationReplace insecure temporary file creation with secure methods such as mkstemp() which creates a file with a random name and proper permissions, or generate a unique random filename in a protected directory.

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
CmusApplication
Affected:= 2.2.0

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 installed cmus version
    Run 'cmus --version' or use your system's package manager to query the installed cmus version
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 2.2.0
  2. Verify cmus-status-display utility exists
    Locate the cmus-status-display binary using 'which cmus-status-display' or by checking common bin directories
    Affected if The cmus-status-display utility is present on the system
  3. Inspect /tmp/cmus-status for symlink attack
    Run 'ls -la /tmp/cmus-status' to check if a symlink already exists at this path
    Affected if A symlink is found at /tmp/cmus-status pointing to a file you did not intend to modify
  4. Check recent file modifications in sensitive locations
    Review system logs or use 'ls -la' on any recently modified files in /etc or other sensitive directories, cross-referencing timestamps with cmus usage
    Affected if Sensitive files show modification timestamps corresponding to when cmus or cmus-status-display was run

You are affected only if cmus version 2.2.0 is installed AND the cmus-status-display utility is in use AND a malicious symlink exists at /tmp/cmus-status

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() which creates a file with a random name and proper permissions, or generate a unique random filename in a protected directory.

Fix this in Cmus Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
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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-2008-5375 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