CVE-2009-0538

Format string vulnerability in Symantec pcAnywhere before 12.5 SP1 allows local users to read and modify arbitrary memory locations, and cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact, via format string specifiers in the pathname of a remote control file (aka .CHF file).

Published: 2009-03-18 Last update: 2026-04-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2009-0538 is rated Low Risk (29.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.38%). 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-2009-0538

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 0.08% 0.38% +0.30%
2 2025-03-17 0.05% 0.08% +0.03%
3 2023-03-07 — 0.05% —

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2009-0538

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.6 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P 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:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 3.9 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2009-0538

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2009-0538

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
symantec pcanywhere <= 12.5 cpe:2.3:a:symantec:pcanywhere:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
symantec pcanywhere 10.0 cpe:2.3:a:symantec:pcanywhere:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
symantec pcanywhere 10.5 cpe:2.3:a:symantec:pcanywhere:10.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
symantec pcanywhere 11.0 cpe:2.3:a:symantec:pcanywhere:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
symantec pcanywhere 11.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:symantec:pcanywhere:11.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
symantec pcanywhere 11.5 cpe:2.3:a:symantec:pcanywhere:11.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
symantec pcanywhere 11.5.1 cpe:2.3:a:symantec:pcanywhere:11.5.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
symantec pcanywhere 12.0 cpe:2.3:a:symantec:pcanywhere:12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
symantec pcanywhere 12.1 cpe:2.3:a:symantec:pcanywhere:12.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2009-0538

cvelogic Threat Intelligence