Paul Vixie Vixie cron 4.1 crontab symlink

CVSS Meta Temp Score
CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.
Current Exploit Price (≈)
Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.
CTI Interest Score
Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
3.8$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Paul Vixie Vixie cron 4.1 and classified as problematic. The affected element is an unknown function of the component crontab. This manipulation causes symlink. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2005-1038. There is not any exploit available. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Paul Vixie Vixie cron 4.1. It has been declared as problematic. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown part of the component crontab. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a symlink vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-61. The product, when opening a file or directory, does not sufficiently account for when the file is a symbolic link that resolves to a target outside of the intended control sphere. This could allow an attacker to cause the product to operate on unauthorized files. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality. The summary by CVE is:

crontab in Vixie cron 4.1, when running with the -e option, allows local users to read the cron files of other users by changing the file being edited to a symlink. NOTE: there is insufficient information to know whether this is a duplicate of CVE-2001-0235.

The bug was discovered 04/08/2005. The weakness was released 05/02/2005 (Website). It is possible to read the advisory at securityfocus.com. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2005-1038 since 04/10/2005. The exploitation appears to be easy. Attacking locally is a requirement. The exploitation doesn't need any form of authentication. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available.

The vulnerability was handled as a non-public zero-day exploit for at least 24 days. During that time the estimated underground price was around $0-$5k. The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 21088 (RHEL 3 : vixie-cron (RHSA-2006:0117)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment. It is assigned to the family Red Hat Local Security Checks and running in the context l. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 117805 (CentOS Security Update for vixie (CESA-2005:361)).

Upgrading eliminates this vulnerability. A possible mitigation has been published 12 months after the disclosure of the vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at X-Force (20037), Tenable (21088), SecurityFocus (BID 13024†), OSVDB (15352†) and Secunia (SA14862†). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Vendor

Name

Version

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 4.0
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 3.8

VulDB Base Score: 4.0
VulDB Temp Score: 3.8
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Symlink
CWE: CWE-61 / CWE-59
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: No

Availability: 🔍
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

0-DayUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
TodayUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock

Nessus ID: 21088
Nessus Name: RHEL 3 : vixie-cron (RHSA-2006:0117)
Nessus File: 🔍
Nessus Risk: 🔍
Nessus Family: 🔍
Nessus Context: 🔍
Nessus Port: 🔍

Qualys ID: 🔍
Qualys Name: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

Reaction Time: 🔍
0-Day Time: 🔍
Exposure Time: 🔍

Timelineinfo

04/06/2005 🔍
04/08/2005 +2 days 🔍
04/08/2005 +0 days 🔍
04/10/2005 +2 days 🔍
05/02/2005 +22 days 🔍
05/02/2005 +0 days 🔍
09/18/2005 +139 days 🔍
09/19/2005 +1 days 🔍
03/15/2006 +177 days 🔍
03/16/2006 +1 days 🔍
03/10/2015 +3281 days 🔍
07/04/2025 +3769 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Advisory: securityfocus.com⛔
Status: Confirmed
Confirmation: 🔍

CVE: CVE-2005-1038 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2005-1038
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-24811

OVAL: 🔍

X-Force: 20037
SecurityFocus: 13024 - Vixie Cron Crontab File Disclosure Vulnerability
Secunia: 14862 - Fedora Core vixie-cron Exposure of Arbitrary Cron Files, Not Critical
OSVDB: 15352 - CVE-2005-1038 - Paul Vixie - Vixie Cron - Information Disclosure Issue
Vulnerability Center: 9194 - Vixie Cron 4.1 File Disclosure via Symlink Attack, Low

Entryinfo

Created: 03/10/2015 23:05
Updated: 07/04/2025 18:33
Changes: 03/10/2015 23:05 (71), 06/09/2019 15:26 (8), 07/04/2025 18:33 (20)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216:D2C:103

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Discussion

No comments yet. Languages: en.

Please log in to comment.

◂ PreviousOverviewNext ▸

Do you know our Splunk app?

Download it now for free!