CVE-2008-5746
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 · uneditedSun SNMP Management Agent (SUNWmasf) 1.4u2 through 1.5.4 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files and gain privileges via a symlink attack on temporary files.
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 confidenceSun SNMP Management Agent (SUNWmasf) versions 1.4u2 through 1.5.4 contains a symlink attack vulnerability in its temporary file handling. Local users can exploit this to overwrite arbitrary files on the system and potentially escalate privileges to root.
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= 1.4= 1.5.3= 1.5.4CVSS 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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Check if Sun SNMP Management Agent package is installedRun 'pkginfo | grep -i sunwmasf' on Solaris systems to see if the SUNWmasf package is presentAffected if The package is not installed means not affected
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Determine installed version of SUNWmasfRun 'pkginfo -l SUNWmasf' and look at the VERSION field. Compare this version against the affected range of 1.4u2 through 1.5.4Affected if Version falls within 1.4u2 to 1.5.4 inclusive, or matches 1.4, 1.5.3, or 1.5.4 specifically
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Verify if SNMP Management Agent daemon is runningRun 'ps -ef | grep -i snmp' to check for running snmpd processes related to Sun Management AgentAffected if The snmpd daemon from Sun Management Agent is actively running, making the symlink attack viable
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Check temporary directory permissionsInspect /tmp and /var/tmp for world-writable permissions using 'ls -lad /tmp /var/tmp'Affected if These directories are world-writable, which is required for the symlink attack to succeed
User is affected if SUNWmasf package is installed with a version between 1.4u2 and 1.5.4, the daemon is running, and /tmp directories are world-writable.
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 dataApply the vendor patch for this vulnerability or upgrade to a version beyond 1.5.4. Additionally, restrict file permissions on /tmp directories and monitor for suspicious symlink creation in temporary directories.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-5746 — 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-2008-5746 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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- 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
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