CVE-2004-0452

Race condition in the rmtree function in the File::Path module in Perl 5.6.1 and 5.8.4 sets read/write permissions for the world, which allows local users to delete arbitrary files and directories, and possibly read files and directories, via a symlink attack.

Published: 2004-12-21 Last update: 2026-04-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2004-0452 is rated Low Risk (15.1/100): CVSS Low severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.05%). Low composite risk—no urgent action required; patch on your normal maintenance cycle and revisit priority if CVSS or EPSS increases.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2004-0452

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 2025-03-17 0.04% 0.05% +0.01%
2 2023-03-07 1.55% 0.04% -1.50%
3 2022-02-04 — 1.55% —

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2004-0452

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
2.6 2.0 LOW
AV:L/AC:H/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:H)
Exploitation requires uncommon or highly specific conditions.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 1.9 4.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2004-0452

OS Trackers for CVE-2004-0452

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2004-0452 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (perl), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2004-0452
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2004-0452
ubuntu medium CVE-2004-0452 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (perl), 4 status rows across 4 suites (dapper, edgy, feisty, upstream): released 3, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2004-0452

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2004-0452

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
larry_wall perl 5.6.1 cpe:2.3:a:larry_wall:perl:5.6.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
larry_wall perl 5.8.4 cpe:2.3:a:larry_wall:perl:5.8.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2004-0452

cvelogic Threat Intelligence