CVE-2009-1299
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 · uneditedThe pa_make_secure_dir function in core-util.c in PulseAudio 0.9.10 and 0.9.19 allows local users to change the ownership and permissions of arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a /tmp/.esd-##### 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 confidenceThe pa_make_secure_dir function in PulseAudio 0.9.10 and 0.9.19 creates temporary directories with predictable names (/tmp/.esd-*****) without properly validating that the path is not a symlink. A local attacker can pre-create a symlink at this location, causing PulseAudio to change ownership and permissions of an arbitrary target file when the function executes.
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= 0.9.10= 0.9.19CVSS 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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Identify installed PulseAudio versionRun 'pulseaudio --version' or check your package manager (dpkg -l pulseaudio, rpm -q pulseaudio)Affected if Version is exactly 0.9.10 or 0.9.19
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Confirm PulseAudio is runningRun 'ps aux | grep pulseaudio' or check if the pulseaudio daemon is activeAffected if PulseAudio daemon is actively running (the vulnerable code executes at runtime)
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Verify ESound module availabilityCheck if the esound-protocol module is loaded: 'pactl list modules' or check if 'module-esound-protocol-unix' is listedAffected if ESound module (module-esound-protocol-unix or module-esound-protocol-tcp) is loaded, as this triggers the vulnerable pa_make_secure_dir call with /tmp/.esd-* paths
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Inspect /tmp directory for symlink placement riskCheck /tmp permissions with 'ls -lad /tmp' - if world-writable, any local user can create a malicious symlink before PulseAudio startsAffected if The /tmp directory is world-writable (permissions 1777), allowing unprivileged users to place symlinks at /tmp/.esd-* before PulseAudio creates the directory
You are affected if you run PulseAudio version 0.9.10 or 0.9.19, have the ESound module loaded, and your /tmp directory is writable by other users.
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 dataUpdate to a patched version of PulseAudio that properly validates temporary directory paths against symlink attacks, or implement file existence/symlink checks in pa_make_secure_dir before modifying ownership/permissions.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2009-1299 — 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-2009-1299 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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