Heap-based buffer overflow in textbox.c in newt 0.51.5, 0.51.6, and 0.52.2 allows local users to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a request to display a crafted text dialog box.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2009-2905 is rated Low Risk (25.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.08%). 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.
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 | 2025-03-17 | 0.04% | 0.08% | +0.03% |
| 2 | 2023-03-07 | 2.17% | 0.04% | -2.13% |
| 3 | 2022-02-04 | — | 2.17% | — |
Full EPSS history (3 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.6 | 2.0 | MEDIUM |
|
3.9 | 6.4 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
medium | CVE-2009-2905 medium priority: Debian including 1 source packages (newt), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2009-2905 |
gentoo
|
normal | CVE-2009-2905: 1 GLSA(s) (201006-14), 1 atom(s) (dev-libs/newt); latest impact normal. | https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2009-2905 |
redhat
|
medium | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2009-2905 |
suse
|
medium | — | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2009-2905/ |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2009-2905 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (newt), 5 status rows across 5 suites (dapper, hardy, intrepid, jaunty, upstream): released 4, needs-triage 1. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2009-2905 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| fedorahosted | newt | 0.51.5 | cpe:2.3:a:fedorahosted:newt:0.51.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| fedorahosted | newt | 0.51.6 | cpe:2.3:a:fedorahosted:newt:0.51.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| fedorahosted | newt | 0.52.2 | cpe:2.3:a:fedorahosted:newt:0.52.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |