Vulnerabilities
Misconfiguration
Compliance
CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2008-1694

Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')

Published: Apr 22, 2008 | Modified: Apr 09, 2025
CVSS 3.x
N/A
Source:
NVD
CVSS 2.x
4.6 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu
LOW
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Additional information
NVDhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2008-1694
CWEhttps://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/59.html

vcdiff in Emacs 20.7 to 22.1.50, when used with SCCS, allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on temporary files.

Weakness

The product attempts to access a file based on the filename, but it does not properly prevent that filename from identifying a link or shortcut that resolves to an unintended resource.

Affected Software

NameVendorStart VersionEnd Version
EmacsGnu20.7 (including)20.7 (including)
EmacsGnu21.1 (including)21.1 (including)
EmacsGnu21.2 (including)21.2 (including)
EmacsGnu21.3 (including)21.3 (including)
EmacsGnu21.4 (including)21.4 (including)
SccsGnu**
Emacs21Ubuntudapper*
Emacs21Ubuntufeisty*
Emacs21Ubuntugutsy*
Emacs21Ubuntuhardy*
Emacs21Ubuntuupstream*
Emacs22Ubuntudevel*
Emacs22Ubuntugutsy*
Emacs22Ubuntuhardy*
Emacs22Ubuntuintrepid*
Emacs22Ubuntujaunty*
Emacs22Ubuntukarmic*
Emacs22Ubuntuupstream*
Xemacs21Ubuntudapper*
Xemacs21Ubuntufeisty*
Xemacs21Ubuntugutsy*
Xemacs21Ubuntuhardy*
Xemacs21Ubuntuupstream*

Potential Mitigations

  • Follow the principle of least privilege when assigning access rights to entities in a software system.
  • Denying access to a file can prevent an attacker from replacing that file with a link to a sensitive file. Ensure good compartmentalization in the system to provide protected areas that can be trusted.

References

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