CVE-2009-5081

The (1) config.guess, (2) contrib/groffer/perl/groffer.pl, and (3) contrib/groffer/perl/roff2.pl scripts in GNU troff (aka groff) 1.21 and earlier use an insufficient number of X characters in the template argument to the tempfile function, which makes it easier for local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a temporary file, a different vulnerability than CVE-2004-0969.

Published: 2011-06-30 Last update: 2026-04-29 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2009-5081 is rated Low Risk (23.1/100): CVSS Low severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.12%). 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-2009-5081

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% 0.12% +0.07%
2 2023-03-07 0.95% 0.04% -0.91%
3 2022-02-04 — 0.95% —

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2009-5081

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
3.3 2.0 LOW
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/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:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 3.4 4.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2009-5081

OS Trackers for CVE-2009-5081

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2009-5081 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (groff), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2009-5081
gentoo low CVE-2009-5081: 1 GLSA(s) (201310-14), 1 atom(s) (sys-apps/groff); latest impact low. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2009-5081
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2009-5081
suse low — https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2009-5081/
ubuntu low CVE-2009-5081 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (groff), 6 status rows across 6 suites (hardy, lucid, maverick, natty, oneiric, upstream): ignored 5, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2009-5081

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2009-5081

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnu groff <= 1.21 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu groff 1.10 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:1.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu groff 1.11 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:1.11:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu groff 1.11a cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:1.11a:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu groff 1.14 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:1.14:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu groff 1.15 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:1.15:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu groff 1.16 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:1.16:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu groff 1.16.1 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:1.16.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu groff 1.17.1 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:1.17.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu groff 1.17.2 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:1.17.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu groff 1.18.1 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:1.18.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu groff 1.19 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:1.19:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu groff 1.19.1 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:1.19.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu groff 1.19.2 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:1.19.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu groff 1.20 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:1.20:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu groff 1.20.1 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:1.20.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2009-5081

cvelogic Threat Intelligence