CVE-2008-1685

gcc 4.2.0 through 4.3.0 in GNU Compiler Collection, when casts are not used, considers the sum of a pointer and an int to be greater than or equal to the pointer, which might lead to removal of length testing code that was intended as a protection mechanism against integer overflow and buffer overflow attacks, and provide no diagnostic message about this removal. NOTE: the vendor has determined that this compiler behavior is correct according to section 6.5.6 of the C99 standard (aka ISO/IEC 9899:1999)

Published: 2008-04-06 Last update: 2026-04-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2008-1685 is rated Moderate Risk (49.4/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.25%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

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-2008-1685

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 2.01% 1.25% -0.76%
2 2025-09-15 0.49% 2.01% +1.53%
3 2025-03-17 — 0.49% —

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2008-1685

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
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.
 8.6 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2008-1685

OS Trackers for CVE-2008-1685

vendor priority summary link
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2008-1685
ubuntu low CVE-2008-1685 low priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (gcc-4.2, gcc-4.3), 18 status rows across 9 suites (dapper, edgy, feisty, gutsy, hardy, intrepid, jaunty, karmic, upstream): ignored 10, DNE 8. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2008-1685

Vendor comments (NVD) for CVE-2008-1685

  • Red Hat (2008-07-24T00:00:00)

    The Red Hat Security Response Team is aware of this new gcc behavior and is currently working to determine what impact these changes will have on the source code processed by the compiler. These changes do not affect Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2, 3, 4, or 5.

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2008-1685

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnu gcc 4.2.0 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:gcc:4.2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu gcc 4.2.1 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:gcc:4.2.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu gcc 4.2.2 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:gcc:4.2.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu gcc 4.2.3 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:gcc:4.2.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu gcc 4.2.4 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:gcc:4.2.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu gcc 4.3.0 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:gcc:4.3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2008-1685

cvelogic Threat Intelligence