CVE-2015-3243
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 · uneditedrsyslog uses weak permissions for generating log files, which allows local users to obtain sensitive information by reading files in /var/log/cron.
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 confidencersyslog creates log files in /var/log/cron with overly permissive permissions (likely world-readable), allowing any local user to read potentially sensitive cron job execution logs.
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 dataall versionsCVSS 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
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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.
-
Identify if rsyslog is installedRun 'rpm -q rsyslog' (RHEL/CentOS) or 'dpkg -l rsyslog' (Debian/Ubuntu) to check if the rsyslog package is installed.Affected if rsyslog is installed and the system uses it for logging
-
Check current permissions on cron log filesRun 'ls -la /var/log/cron' to view the permissions of the cron log file. Also check 'ls -la /var/log/' for other cron-related log files like cron.log, cron-*.log, or syslog files that may contain cron entries.Affected if The log file permissions show 'r--r--r--' (444) or 'rw-r--r--' (644) indicating world-readable access
-
Verify rsyslog configuration for file creation modeCheck rsyslog.conf files for the $FileCreateMode directive: 'grep -r "FileCreateMode" /etc/rsyslog.conf /etc/rsyslog.d/'Affected if The directive is absent (uses default permissive mode), or is set to a value higher than 0640 (e.g., 0644, 0666)
-
Check if cron logging is forwarded to rsyslogReview /etc/rsyslog.conf and files in /etc/rsyslog.d/ for entries directing cron facility logs to files, such as 'cron.* /var/log/cron' or 'mail.* /var/log/cron'. Also check /etc/logrotate.d/rsyslog for rotation configuration.Affected if Cron logs are configured to be written by rsyslog to a file in /var/log/
A system is affected if rsyslog is installed, cron logging is enabled, and the cron log files have world-readable permissions or the $FileCreateMode directive is not configured to restrict permissions to owner/group only.
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 rsyslog to create log files with restricted permissions (e.g., 640 or more restrictive) using the $FileCreateMode directive in rsyslog.conf, and fix existing file permissions.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-3243 — 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-2015-3243 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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.
- 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