CVE-2003-0848

Exp

Heap-based buffer overflow in main.c of slocate 2.6, and possibly other versions, may allow local users to gain privileges via a modified slocate database that causes a negative "pathlen" value to be used.

Published: 2003-11-17 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2003-0848 is rated Exploit Available (53.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.94%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2003-0848

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
23228 exploit_db edb 2003-10-06 Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2003-0848

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.37% 0.94% +0.57%
2 2026-01-02 0.29% 0.37% +0.08%
3 2025-03-30 0.29%

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2003-0848

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.6 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
3.9 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2003-0848

OS Trackers for CVE-2003-0848

vendor priority summary link
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2003-0848
ubuntu medium CVE-2003-0848 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (slocate), 4 status rows across 4 suites (dapper, edgy, feisty, upstream): released 3, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2003-0848

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2003-0848

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
slocate slocate 2.1 cpe:2.3:a:slocate:slocate:2.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
slocate slocate 2.2 cpe:2.3:a:slocate:slocate:2.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
slocate slocate 2.3 cpe:2.3:a:slocate:slocate:2.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
slocate slocate 2.4 cpe:2.3:a:slocate:slocate:2.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
slocate slocate 2.5 cpe:2.3:a:slocate:slocate:2.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
slocate slocate 2.6 cpe:2.3:a:slocate:slocate:2.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2003-0848

URL Tags
ftp://ftp.sco.com/pub/updates/OpenLinux/3.1.1/Workstation/CSSA-2004-001.0/CSSA-2004-001.0.txt
ftp://patches.sgi.com/support/free/security/advisories/20040201-01-U.asc
ftp://patches.sgi.com/support/free/security/advisories/20040202-01-U.asc
http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=106546447321274&w=2
http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=106589631819348&w=2
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2004-040.html
http://secunia.com/advisories/10670
http://secunia.com/advisories/10683
http://secunia.com/advisories/10686
http://secunia.com/advisories/10698
http://secunia.com/advisories/10702
http://secunia.com/advisories/10720
http://secunia.com/advisories/10722
http://secunia.com/advisories/9962/
http://www.debian.org/security/2004/dsa-428 Patch Vendor Advisory
http://www.ebitech.sk/patrik/SA/SA-20031006-A.txt
http://www.ebitech.sk/patrik/SA/SA-20031006.txt
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDKSA-2004:004
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-announce-list/2004-January/msg00009.html
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2004-041.html
http://www.trustix.org/errata/misc/2004/TSL-2004-0005-slocate.asc.txt
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A11033
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A821
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