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LynisApplication · Cisofy

CVE-2017-8108

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-06-08
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.5.0 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Unspecified tests in Lynis before 2.5.0 allow local users to write to arbitrary files or possibly gain privileges via a symlink attack on a temporary file.

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

Lynis before 2.5.0 contains a vulnerability in unspecified tests where local users can write to arbitrary files or gain privileges via a symlink attack on a temporary file. This is a classic temp file race condition where the application creates temporary files in a predictable location without proper checks, allowing an attacker to substitute a symlink before the file is accessed.

MitigationUpgrade to Lynis version 2.5.0 or later, which contains the fix for the symlink attack vulnerability in temporary file handling.

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
LynisApplication
Affected:< 2.5.0

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

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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. Check if Lynis is installed
    Run 'which lynis' or 'command -v lynis' to locate the Lynis binary
    Affected if Lynis binary is not found on the system (not applicable)
  2. Determine installed Lynis version
    Run 'lynis --version' or 'lynis -v' to display the version number
    Affected if Command fails or version cannot be determined
  3. Compare version to affected range
    Parse the version output and compare the major.minor.patch numbers to 2.5.0
    Affected if Version number is lower than 2.5.0 (for example, 2.4.0, 2.3.1, 1.x.x series)
  4. Identify temporary file usage (optional verification)
    Review Lynis execution logs or run 'lynis --audit' to observe temporary file creation in /tmp
    Affected if System creates temp files in predictable locations without proper symlink protection (versions < 2.5.0)

A user is affected if Lynis is installed and the installed version is anything below 2.5.0.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2.5.0 or later
Fixed in 2.5.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Lynis version 2.5.0 or later, which contains the fix for the symlink attack vulnerability in temporary file handling.

Fix this in Lynis Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.

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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-2017-8108 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