CVE-2009-0032
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 · uneditedCUPS on Mandriva Linux 2008.0, 2008.1, 2009.0, Corporate Server (CS) 3.0 and 4.0, and Multi Network Firewall (MNF) 2.0 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on the /tmp/pdf.log 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 confidenceCUPS on Mandriva Linux creates a temporary file at /tmp/pdf.log without proper symlink protection, allowing a local attacker to create a symlink at that location that points to an arbitrary file. When CUPS writes to the temporary file, it overwrites the target file with attacker-controlled content.
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
- 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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Confirm CUPS is installedRun 'cups-config --version' or check your package manager for the cups package (e.g., 'rpm -q cups' or 'dpkg -l cups')Affected if CUPS is not installed on the system
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Determine installed CUPS versionRun 'cups-config --version' to get the version number, or check your package database for the installed cups package versionAffected if All versions of Apple CUPS are affected by this vulnerability
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Verify PDF logging feature is enabledInspect the CUPS configuration file (typically /etc/cups/cupsd.conf) for PDF logging directives or the presence of a PDF logging filter/module. Check if CUPS is configured to generate PDF output logs.Affected if PDF logging is not enabled in CUPS configuration (the vulnerability only applies when this feature is active)
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Check for /tmp/pdf.log file or symlinkRun 'ls -la /tmp/pdf.log' to see if the file exists and whether it is a regular file or a symlinkAffected if The file does not exist yet (not yet triggered)
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Inspect symlink target if presentIf /tmp/pdf.log is a symlink, run 'readlink /tmp/pdf.log' to see what file it points toAffected if The symlink points to a sensitive or system-critical file
User is affected if CUPS with PDF logging enabled writes to /tmp/pdf.log as a symlink, allowing arbitrary file overwrite.
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 dataFix CUPS to use secure temporary file creation methods such as mkstemp() with O_EXCL flag, or use a uniquely generated filename with proper permissions in a protected directory instead of /tmp/pdf.log.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2009-0032 — 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-2009-0032 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
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