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PkstatApplication · David Leonard

CVE-2013-0350

MEDIUM · 6.3 CVSS v2.0 Published 2014-05-05
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
tmp_smtp.c in pktstat 1.8.5 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on /tmp/smtp.log.

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 confidence

Local symlink attack vulnerability in pktstat 1.8.5 where tmp_smtp.c writes to /tmp/smtp.log without verifying the file is not a symlink, allowing local users to create a symlink from /tmp/smtp.log to a target file and cause arbitrary file overwrite when the application runs.

MitigationRelocate the log file to a secure location (e.g., /var/log/ with restricted permissions), implement symlink checks (O_NOFOLLOW flag) before writing, or use safe temporary file creation methods (mkstemp) to prevent symlink attacks.

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
PkstatApplication
Affected:= 1.8.5

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
Local
Complexity
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/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 checks

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

  1. Verify pktstat installation
    Run 'which pktstat' or check your package manager for the pktstat package
    Affected if pktstat is installed on the system
  2. Check pktstat version
    Run 'pktstat -V' or use your package manager to query the installed version (e.g., 'dpkg -l pktstat' or 'rpm -qi pktstat')
    Affected if The installed version is 1.8.5
  3. Determine if SMTP monitoring is active
    Review how pktstat is invoked. Look for SMTP-related packet capture (e.g., 'pktstat -i <interface> smtp' or similar commands that monitor port 25)
    Affected if pktstat is actively monitoring SMTP traffic, which triggers writes to /tmp/smtp.log
  4. Inspect /tmp/smtp.log for symlink status
    Run 'ls -la /tmp/smtp.log' to check if the file is a symlink
    Affected if The file /tmp/smtp.log exists as a symbolic link pointing to another location (indicating potential exploitation or pre-existing attack)

You are affected if pktstat version 1.8.5 is installed AND it is being used to monitor SMTP traffic, regardless of whether /tmp/smtp.log currently exists as a symlink.

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

Relocate the log file to a secure location (e.g., /var/log/ with restricted permissions), implement symlink checks (O_NOFOLLOW flag) before writing, or use safe temporary file creation methods (mkstemp) to prevent symlink attacks.

Fix this in Pkstat Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.

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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-2013-0350 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data