CVE-2009-0313
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 · uneditedwinetricks before 20081223 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on the x_showmenu.txt 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 confidenceA symlink attack vulnerability in winetricks before version 20081223 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files by pre-creating a malicious symlink at the predictable path of the x_showmenu.txt temporary file, causing winetricks to write to the attacker's target file instead.
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= 20081127CVSS 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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Locate winetricks installationRun 'which winetricks' or check common paths like /usr/local/bin/winetricks, ~/.local/bin/winetricks, or the directory where you originally placed winetricksAffected if winetricks is found on the system and is version 20081127 or earlier (before 20081223)
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Determine winetricks versionRun 'winetricks --version' or 'winetricks -v' to print the version stringAffected if The version reported is 20081127 (the only explicitly affected version listed) or any version earlier than 20081223
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Inspect temp file handling codeExamine the winetricks script file (e.g., 'cat winetricks') and search for patterns related to temporary file creation, specifically looking for 'x_showmenu.txt' or predictable /tmp pathsAffected if The code shows x_showmenu.txt being created in a predictable location such as /tmp with a static or guessable filename (not using mktemp/mkstemp)
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Check for presence of predictable temp filesLook for /tmp/x_showmenu.txt or check if the directory where winetricks stores temp files is world-writable and contains files with predictable namesAffected if A file named x_showmenu.txt exists in a predictable temp directory with permissions allowing symlink creation by other local users
If winetricks version 20081127 (or any version before 20081223) is installed and uses predictable temp file paths for x_showmenu.txt, the system is vulnerable to symlink attacks allowing local users to overwrite arbitrary files.
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 dataReplace predictable temporary file handling with secure methods (e.g., mktemp, mkstemp) that create files with unpredictable names in protected directories, or use file operations that atomically create files and fail if the target already exists.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2009-0313 — 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-2009-0313 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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