CVE-2008-4996

Severity: medium (CVSS 6.9 v2.0)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2008-11-07 · updated 2026-06-16
Weakness: CWE-59

Description

init in initramfs-tools 0.92f allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on the /tmp/initramfs.debug temporary file. NOTE: the vendor disputes this vulnerability, stating that "init is [used in] a single-user context; there's no possibility that this is exploitable.

Affected products

Debian Initramfs-Tools: 0.92f

References

http://bugs.debian.org/496386
http://dev.gentoo.org/~rbu/security/debiantemp/initramfs-tools
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2008/10/30/2
https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=235770
http://bugs.debian.org/496386
http://dev.gentoo.org/~rbu/security/debiantemp/initramfs-tools
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2008/10/30/2
https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=235770

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