CVE-2008-5183

Exp

cupsd in CUPS 1.3.9 and earlier allows local users, and possibly remote attackers, to cause a denial of service (daemon crash) by adding a large number of RSS Subscriptions, which triggers a NULL pointer dereference. NOTE: this issue can be triggered remotely by leveraging CVE-2008-5184.

Published: 2008-11-20 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2008-5183 is rated High Exploit Risk (82.7/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 9.21%, 95th percentile). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +4.57% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. 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-2008-5183

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
7150 exploit_db edb 2008-11-18 Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2008-5183

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 4.64% 9.21% +4.57%
2 2026-03-18 2.09% 4.64% +2.55%
3 2026-01-11 — 2.09% —

Full EPSS history (14 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2008-5183

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2008-5183

OS Trackers for CVE-2008-5183

vendor priority summary link
debian low CVE-2008-5183 low priority: Debian including 1 source packages (cups), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2008-5183
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2008-5183
ubuntu medium CVE-2008-5183 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (cups, cupsys), 10 status rows across 5 suites (dapper, gutsy, hardy, intrepid, upstream): DNE 4, released 3, needs-triage 2, not-affected 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2008-5183

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2008-5183

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
apple cups <= 1.3.9 cpe:2.3:a:apple:cups:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apple mac_os_x < 10.5.6 cpe:2.3:o:apple:mac_os_x:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apple mac_os_x_server < 10.5.6 cpe:2.3:o:apple:mac_os_x_server:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse opensuse 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:opensuse:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2008-5183

URL Tags
http://lab.gnucitizen.org/projects/cups-0day Broken Link
http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2009/Feb/msg00000.html Mailing List
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2008-11/msg00002.html Mailing List
http://secunia.com/advisories/33937 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/43521 Broken Link
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3438 Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2011/dsa-2176 Third Party Advisory
http://www.gnucitizen.org/blog/pwning-ubuntu-via-cups/ Broken Link
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2009:028 Broken Link
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2008/11/19/3 Mailing List
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2008/11/19/4 Mailing List
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2008/11/20/1 Mailing List
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2008-1029.html Broken Link
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/32419 Broken Link Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1021396 Broken Link Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/0422 Broken Link
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2011/0535 Broken Link
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cups/+bug/298241 Issue Tracking
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/46684 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A10586 Broken Link
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/7150 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
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