CVE-2015-8378
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 · uneditedIn KeePassX before 0.4.4, a cleartext copy of password data is created upon a cancel of an XML export action. This allows context-dependent attackers to obtain sensitive information by reading the .xml dotfile.
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 confidenceIn KeePassX before version 0.4.4, when a user initiates an XML export of the password database and then cancels the action, the application fails to properly clean up and leaves a cleartext XML file containing sensitive password data on disk. This unencrypted copy can be recovered by attackers with local system access or through other means of file retrieval.
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<= 0.4.3CVSS 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
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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.
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Identify KeePassX versionOpen KeePassX and navigate to Help > About or use your system's package manager to query the installed version (e.g., dpkg -l keepassx, rpm -qi keepassx, or brew list keepassx --versions)Affected if The installed version is 0.4.3 or any version lower than 0.4.4
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Search for residual XML export filesUse your file explorer or command line to search for .xml files in your home directory, application data folders, and recent document locations. Check directories like ~/Documents, ~/.keepassx, and the folder where you typically save exports. Use commands such as: find ~ -name "*.xml" -mtime -30 (for files modified in the last 30 days) or search manually in common download and document locationsAffected if Any .xml files are found that appear to contain KeePassX database exports with usernames, URLs, or password-like content in cleartext
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Check temporary directories for XML leftoversInspect your system's temp directories (e.g., /tmp, /var/tmp, or %TEMP% on Windows) for any .xml files that may have been created during a cancelled export operationAffected if XML files containing what appears to be password database export data is found in temporary locations
You are affected if you run KeePassX version 0.4.3 or earlier AND you or any user on the system has attempted an XML export and cancelled it, potentially leaving sensitive cleartext password data on disk.
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 dataUpgrade KeePassX to version 0.4.4 or later. Additionally, search the file system for any residual .xml files from cancelled exports and securely delete them to prevent credential exposure.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-8378 — 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-2015-8378 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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