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Slackware LinuxOperating system · Slackware

CVE-2013-7171

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-11-21
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Slackware 14.0 and 14.1, and Slackware LLVM 3.0-i486-2 and 3.3-i486-2, contain world-writable permissions on the /tmp directory which could allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code with root privileges.

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 /tmp directory on affected Slackware systems has world-writable permissions (likely 1777 without the sticky bit), allowing any local or remote attacker to create files or symlinks within /tmp that can be exploited by privileged processes. Attackers can leverage TOCTOU (time-of-check-time-of-use) race conditions or malicious file creation to achieve arbitrary code execution with root privileges.

MitigationRestrict /tmp directory permissions by setting the sticky bit (chmod 1777 /tmp or chmod 1775 /tmp) and ensure critical services do not blindly trust files in /tmp. Consider using a separate /tmp partition or tmpfs with appropriate mount options.

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
Slackware LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 14.0= 14.1

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
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 the operating system version
    Run 'lsb_release -a' or check /etc/slackware-version to determine if the system is Slackware Linux 14.0 or 14.1
    Affected if The system is Slackware Linux 14.0 or 14.1
  2. Check /tmp directory permissions
    Run 'ls -lad /tmp' to view the permissions and sticky bit status of the /tmp directory
    Affected if The permissions show o+w (world-writable) and the sticky bit (first digit) is not set to 1 (for example, mode appears as 0777 instead of 1777)
  3. Verify sticky bit presence explicitly
    Run 'stat -c %a /tmp' to get the octal permissions and check if the first digit is not 1
    Affected if The output is a three-digit number where the first digit is not 1 (e.g., 777 instead of 1777)
  4. Check for /tmp mount configuration
    Run 'mount | grep /tmp' to see if /tmp is mounted as a separate partition or tmpfs
    Affected if /tmp is not a separate mount and has insecure permissions (no sticky bit)

A system is affected if it runs Slackware Linux 14.0 or 14.1 AND the /tmp directory is world-writable (mode contains o+w) but the sticky bit is not set (permissions do not start with 1).

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Restrict /tmp directory permissions by setting the sticky bit (chmod 1777 /tmp or chmod 1775 /tmp) and ensure critical services do not blindly trust files in /tmp. Consider using a separate /tmp partition or tmpfs with appropriate mount options.

Recommended fix High confidence

Slackware 14.2 or Slackware 15.0

  1. Upgrade to Slackware 14.2 or later (Slackware 15.0 recommended) as these versions have corrected the default /tmp directory permissions
  2. If upgrading is not immediately possible, manually fix /tmp permissions by running: chmod 1777 /tmp as root
  3. Additionally, add noexec,nosuid,nodev options to /tmp in /etc/fstab for mounted /tmp or create a separate /tmp partition with these restrictions
  4. Verify the fix by running: ls -ld /tmp (should show drwxrwxrwt permissions with sticky bit)
  5. Restart any services that may have been using insecure /tmp
Caveat Minimal risk; ensure any applications relying on executable files in /tmp are updated to use appropriate temporary directories

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Slackware Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $860
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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-2013-7171 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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