CVE-2009-5082

The (1) configure and (2) config.guess scripts in GNU troff (aka groff) 1.20.1 on Openwall GNU/*/Linux (aka Owl) improperly create temporary files upon a failure of the mktemp function, which makes it easier for local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a temporary file.

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-2009-5082 is rated Low Risk (14.3/100): CVSS Low 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-2009-5082

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 0.95% 0.04% -0.91%
2 2022-02-04 — 0.95% —

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2009-5082

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-2009-5082

OS Trackers for CVE-2009-5082

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2009-5082 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-2009-5082
gentoo low CVE-2009-5082: 1 GLSA(s) (201310-14), 1 atom(s) (sys-apps/groff); latest impact low. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2009-5082
redhat — — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2009-5082
ubuntu low CVE-2009-5082 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-2009-5082

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2009-5082

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnu groff 1.20.1 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:groff:1.20.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2009-5082

cvelogic Threat Intelligence