CVE-2008-0008

Exp

The pa_drop_root function in PulseAudio 0.9.8, and a certain 0.9.9 build, does not check return values from (1) setresuid, (2) setreuid, (3) setuid, and (4) seteuid calls when attempting to drop privileges, which might allow local users to gain privileges by causing those calls to fail via attacks such as resource exhaustion.

Published: 2008-01-29 Last update: 2026-04-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2008-0008 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.05%). 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-2008-0008

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2008-0008

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 2025-03-30 0.05% 0.05% +0.00%
2 2025-03-29 0.05% 0.05% -0.01%
3 2024-12-17 0.05%

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2008-0008

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.2 2.0 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C 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:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
3.9 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2008-0008

OS Trackers for CVE-2008-0008

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2008-0008 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (pulseaudio), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2008-0008
gentoo high CVE-2008-0008: 1 GLSA(s) (200802-07), 1 atom(s) (media-sound/pulseaudio); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2008-0008
suse high CVE-2008-0008 severity important: SUSE including 67 source package names (libpulse-browse0-0.9.21-1.5.26, libpulse-browse0-0.9.23-0.17.1, …), 79 product×package rows across 7 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2, … (7 product lines)): Fixed 79. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2008-0008/
ubuntu low CVE-2008-0008 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (pulseaudio), 5 status rows across 5 suites (dapper, edgy, feisty, gutsy, upstream): released 3, DNE 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2008-0008

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2008-0008

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
pulseaudio pulseaudio 0.9.6 cpe:2.3:a:pulseaudio:pulseaudio:0.9.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
pulseaudio pulseaudio 0.9.8 cpe:2.3:a:pulseaudio:pulseaudio:0.9.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2008-0008

URL Tags
http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=207214 Third Party Advisory
http://pulseaudio.org/changeset/2100 Exploit
http://secunia.com/advisories/28608 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/28623 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/28738 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/28952 Vendor Advisory
http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200802-07.xml Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2008/dsa-1476 Third Party Advisory
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2008:027 Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/27449 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-573-1 Third Party Advisory
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2008/0283 Vendor Advisory
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=347822 Issue Tracking
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=425481 Issue Tracking
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/39992 VDB Entry
https://tango.0pointer.de/pipermail/pulseaudio-discuss/2008-January/001228.html Broken Link
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2008-January/msg00852.html Third Party Advisory
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2008-January/msg00869.html Third Party Advisory
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