CVE-2009-4996
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 · uneditedXfce4-session 4.5.91 in Xfce does not lock the screen when the suspend or hibernate button is pressed, which might make it easier for physically proximate attackers to access an unattended laptop via a resume action, a related issue to CVE-2010-2532. NOTE: there is no general agreement that this is a vulnerability, because separate control over locking can be an equally secure, or more secure, behavior in some threat environments
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 confidenceXfce4-session 4.5.91 fails to lock the screen when the user initiates suspend or hibernate, leaving the session accessible to anyone with physical access when the system resumes from a low-power state. This allows a physically proximate attacker to gain access to an unattended, suspended/hibernated laptop without authentication.
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= 4.6CVSS 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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Identify Xfce4-session versionRun `xfce4-session --version` or check your package manager for the installed xfce4-session versionAffected if The installed version is 4.5.91 or 4.6.x (any version in the 4.6 series)
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Verify if screen locking is configured for power eventsCheck your Xfce power manager settings or xscreensaver configuration for lock-on-suspend/hibernate optionsAffected if No screen lock is configured to trigger when the system suspends or hibernates
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Confirm xscreensaver or alternative lock daemon is activeCheck if xscreensaver, xlock, or another screen-locking daemon is installed and running (e.g., `ps aux | grep -i screensaver`)Affected if No screen lock daemon is running or configured
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Inspect Xfce session configuration for suspend/hibernate scriptsLook in ~/.config/xfce4/session/ or /etc/xfce/ for custom session scripts that may handle suspend/hibernate eventsAffected if Custom session scripts exist but do not invoke a screen lock before suspend/hibernate
You are affected if you are running Xfce 4.5.91 or 4.6.x and have not configured a screen lock to trigger automatically when the system suspends or hibernates.
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 dataConfigure Xfce to lock the screen before suspend/hibernate via xscreensaver, xlock, or another locking mechanism, or upgrade to a patched version of xfce4-session that enforces screen locking on power state transitions.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 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-2009-4996 — 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-2009-4996 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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