A design error in the IEEE1394 specification allows attackers with physical access to a device to read and write to sensitive memory using a modified FireWire/IEEE 1394 client, thus bypassing intended restrictions that would normally require greater degrees of physical access to exploit. NOTE: this was reported in 2008 to affect Windows Vista, but some Linux-based operating systems have protection mechanisms against this attack.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2004-1038 is rated Low Risk (37.6/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.10%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
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 | 0.22% | 0.10% | -0.12% |
| 2 | 2023-03-08 | 0.32% | 0.22% | -0.09% |
| 3 | 2023-03-07 | — | 0.32% | — |
Full EPSS history (4 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.2 | 2.0 | HIGH |
|
3.9 | 10.0 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
ubuntu
|
high | CVE-2004-1038 high priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (linux, linux-source-2.6.15), 12 status rows across 6 suites (dapper, hardy, intrepid, jaunty, karmic, upstream): ignored 7, DNE 5. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2004-1038 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| ieee | firewire_ieee | 1394 | cpe:2.3:a:ieee:firewire_ieee:1394:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |