CVE-2009-2461
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 · uneditedmathtex.cgi in mathTeX, when downloaded before 20090713, does not securely create temporary files, which has unspecified impact and local attack vectors.
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 confidencemathTeX's mathtex.cgi script creates temporary files insecurely before version dated 20090713, allowing local attackers to exploit race conditions or symlink attacks on temp files for unspecified local privilege escalation or denial of service.
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<= 1.02= 1.00= 1.01CVSS 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.
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Locate the mathtex.cgi scriptSearch for mathtex.cgi in common web directories such as /cgi-bin/, /usr/lib/cgi-bin/, or the document root of the web server. Use: find / -name "mathtex.cgi" 2>/dev/nullAffected if The script is found on the system
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Determine the mathtex version or dateOpen the mathtex.cgi file and look for a version string, date marker, or comment near the top of the script that indicates the release date. Check for strings like 'version', '1.02', '1.01', '1.00', or a date in the format YYYYMMDD.Affected if The version is 1.00, 1.01, or 1.02, or the script date is before July 13, 2009 (20090713)
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Inspect temporary file creation codeSearch within mathtex.cgi for patterns that indicate temporary file creation without secure methods. Look for calls to tempnam(), tmpnam(), or open() with a predictable path, and verify whether mkstemp() or similar secure methods are used.Affected if The script uses insecure temporary file functions like tempnam() or tmpnam() instead of mkstemp()
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Check for world-writable temp directoryExamine the temporary directory referenced in the script (often /tmp or a web-writable directory). Verify permissions: ls -ld /tmp or the specific temp directory used by the script.Affected if The temp directory is world-writable and the script uses predictable temp file names
A user is affected if mathtex.cgi version 1.00, 1.01, or 1.02 (or dated before 20090713) is installed and uses insecure temporary file creation methods.
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 dataUpgrade to mathTeX version released after July 13, 2009, or patch the CGI script to use secure temporary file creation methods such as mkstemp() with appropriate file permissions and atomic operations.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2009-2461 — 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-2009-2461 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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