CVE-2009-4135

The distcheck rule in dist-check.mk in GNU coreutils 5.2.1 through 8.1 allows local users to gain privileges via a symlink attack on a file in a directory tree under /tmp.

Published: 2009-12-11 Last update: 2026-04-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2009-4135 is rated Low Risk (19/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.04%). Low composite risk—no urgent action required; patch on your normal maintenance cycle and revisit priority if CVSS or EPSS increases.

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-2009-4135

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 1.55% 0.04% -1.50%
2 2022-02-04 — 1.55% —

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2009-4135

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.4 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:M/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: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.
 3.4 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2009-4135

OS Trackers for CVE-2009-4135

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2009-4135 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (coreutils), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2009-4135
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2009-4135
ubuntu low CVE-2009-4135 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (coreutils), 16 status rows across 16 suites (dapper, hardy, intrepid, jaunty, karmic, lucid, maverick, natty, oneiric, precise, quantal, raring, saucy, trusty, upstream, utopic): ignored 11, not-affected 3, needs-triage 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2009-4135

Vendor comments (NVD) for CVE-2009-4135

  • Red Hat (2010-02-26T00:00:00)

    This issue does not affect users using coreutils binary RPMs, or rebuilding source RPMs. Therefore, we do not plan to release updates addressing this flaw on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, 4 and 5. For additional details, refer to the following bug: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2009-4135

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2009-4135

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
canonical ubuntu_linux 10.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:10.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 12.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 14.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 5.2.1 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:5.2.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 5.91 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:5.91:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 5.92 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:5.92:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 5.93 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:5.93:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 5.94 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:5.94:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 5.95 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:5.95:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 5.96 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:5.96:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 5.97 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:5.97:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 6.2 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:6.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 6.3 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:6.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 6.4 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:6.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 6.5 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:6.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 6.6 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:6.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 6.7 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:6.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 6.8 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:6.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 6.9 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:6.9:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 6.10 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:6.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 6.11 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:6.11:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 6.12 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:6.12:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 7.1 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:7.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 7.2 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:7.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 7.3 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:7.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 7.4 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:7.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 7.5 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:7.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 7.6 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:7.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu coreutils 8.1 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:coreutils:8.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 11 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:11:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 12 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:12:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2009-4135

URL Tags
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/coreutils.git/commit/?id=ae034822c535fa5 Issue Tracking Patch
http://marc.info/?l=oss-security&m=126030454503441&w=2 Mailing List Patch Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/37645
http://secunia.com/advisories/37860
http://secunia.com/advisories/62226
http://www.mail-archive.com/bug-coreutils%40gnu.org/msg18779.html
http://www.mail-archive.com/bug-coreutils%40gnu.org/msg18787.html
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2009/12/08/4 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.osvdb.org/60853
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/37256 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2473-1 Third Party Advisory
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2009/3453 Permissions Required
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=545439 Issue Tracking Patch
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/54673
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2009-December/msg00954.html Third Party Advisory
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2009-December/msg00972.html Third Party Advisory
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