CVE-2015-5701

mktexlsr revision 36855, and before revision 36626 as packaged in texlive allows local users to write to arbitrary files via a symlink attack. NOTE: this vulnerability exists due to the reversion of a fix of CVE-2015-5700.

Published: 2017-08-25 Last update: 2026-05-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2015-5701 is rated Low Risk (31.5/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.07%). 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-2015-5701

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 2026-04-21 0.19% 0.07% -0.12%
2 2025-03-17 0.04% 0.19% +0.15%
3 2023-03-07 — 0.04% —

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2015-5701

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.1 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.8 4.2 [email protected]
5.6 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:C/A:N 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:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 3.9 7.8 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2015-5701

OS Trackers for CVE-2015-5701

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2015-5701 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (texlive-bin), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2015-5701
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-5701
ubuntu medium CVE-2015-5701 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (texlive-bin), 4 status rows across 4 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, vivid): not-affected 2, DNE 1, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-5701

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2015-5701

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
tug texlive 20100722 cpe:2.3:a:tug:texlive:20100722:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
tug texlive 20110705 cpe:2.3:a:tug:texlive:20110705:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
tug texlive 20120701 cpe:2.3:a:tug:texlive:20120701:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
tug texlive 20130530 cpe:2.3:a:tug:texlive:20130530:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
tug texlive 20140525 cpe:2.3:a:tug:texlive:20140525:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2015-5701

cvelogic Threat Intelligence