CVE-2008-5908
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 · uneditedUnspecified vulnerability in the root/boot archive tool in Sun OpenSolaris has unknown impact and local attack vectors, related to a "Temporary file vulnerability," aka Bug ID 6653455.
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 · moderate confidenceTemporary file vulnerability in Sun OpenSolaris root/boot archive tool (Bug ID 6653455) allows local attackers to manipulate temporary files through predictable filenames or TOCTOU race conditions, potentially leading to privilege escalation or arbitrary file overwrite during archive operations.
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 dataall versionsCVSS 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
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:L/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.
-
Identify the operating system versionRun 'uname -a' or check /etc/release to confirm if the system is Sun OpenSolarisAffected if The system is running any version of Sun OpenSolaris
-
Locate the root/boot archive toolSearch for archive management utilities in /usr/sbin/ such as bootadm, or check the package system with 'pkginfo | grep -i boot'Affected if The root/boot archive tool (bootadm or similar) is present on the system
-
Verify temporary directory permissionsCheck /tmp and /var/tmp permissions with 'ls -ld /tmp /var/tmp' - look for the sticky bit (mode 1777)Affected if Temporary directories lack proper sticky-bit permissions (not set to 1777)
-
Test tool accessibility for non-privileged usersAs a non-root user, attempt to invoke the archive tool or check its permissions with 'ls -l /usr/sbin/bootadm' (or similar path)Affected if The archive tool is executable by unprivileged users without proper authorization controls
-
Check for predictable temporary file creationMonitor the tool's behavior during archive operations - inspect /tmp for files created with predictable patterns during boot archive updatesAffected if Temporary files are created with predictable names or without secure random identifiers
The system is affected if it runs Sun OpenSolaris and the root/boot archive tool is accessible to users who could exploit predictable temporary filenames or TOCTOU race conditions during archive operations.
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 Sun/Oracle patches for OpenSolaris, restrict access to the root/boot archive tool to authorized administrators only, and ensure temporary directories have appropriate sticky-bit permissions.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,408.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-5908 — 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-2008-5908 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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.
- 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