SystemtapApplication

CVE-2010-0412

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2010-02-25
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
stap-server in SystemTap 1.1 does not properly restrict the value of the -B (aka BUILD) option, which allows attackers to have an unspecified impact via vectors associated with executing the make program, a different vulnerability than CVE-2009-4273.

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 confidence

The stap-server component in SystemTap fails to properly validate or restrict the -B (BUILD) option passed to it, allowing attackers to influence the make program execution with potentially arbitrary values. This input validation failure could enable injection of malicious make targets or options.

MitigationRestrict and sanitize the -B option input to only allow known-safe build configuration values, following the principle of least privilege for the make invocation.

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
SystemtapApplication
Affected:= 1.1

CVSS 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
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed SystemTap version
    Run 'rpm -q systemtap' or 'dpkg -l systemtap' depending on your Linux distribution, or check 'stap --version' output
    Affected if The installed version is SystemTap 1.1 (exact match)
  2. Verify stap-server component presence
    Check if the stap-server binary or script exists on the system: run 'which stap-server' or look for it in typical paths like /usr/bin/stap-server or /usr/sbin/stap-server
    Affected if The stap-server component is present and executable on the system
  3. Check for -B option usage in stap-server configuration
    Inspect any configuration files, scripts, or wrapper files that invoke stap-server, looking for instances where the -B flag is passed to make or stap-server; use 'grep -r "-B"' in relevant directories
    Affected if The -B option is being passed to stap-server without input validation or sanitization in place
  4. Inspect running stap-server processes
    If stap-server is currently running, examine its command line arguments: run 'ps aux | grep stap-server' or 'ps aux | grep -i systemtap'
    Affected if A running stap-server process shows the -B option being used with user-controlled or unsanitized values

A system is affected if it runs SystemTap version 1.1 with the stap-server component and allows unsanitized -B option input to reach the make invocation.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Restrict and sanitize the -B option input to only allow known-safe build configuration values, following the principle of least privilege for the make invocation.

Fix this in Systemtap Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2010-0412 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
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