CVE-2008-4832

rc.sysinit in initscripts 8.12-8.21 and 8.56.15-0.1 on rPath allows local users to delete arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a directory under (1) /var/lock or (2) /var/run. NOTE: this issue exists because of a race condition in an incorrect fix for CVE-2008-3524. NOTE: exploitation may require an unusual scenario in which rc.sysinit is executed other than at boot time.

Published: 2008-11-17 Last update: 2026-04-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2008-4832 is rated Low Risk (28.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.04%). 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.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2008-4832

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 2023-03-07 0.95% 0.04% -0.91%
2 2022-02-04 0.95%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2008-4832

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.9 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:M/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:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
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.
3.4 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2008-4832

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2008-4832

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
rpath initscripts 8.12-8.21 cpe:2.3:a:rpath:initscripts:8.12-8.21:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rpath initscripts 8.56.15-0.1 cpe:2.3:a:rpath:initscripts:8.56.15-0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2008-4832

cvelogic Threat Intelligence