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Fencer Vulns
medium 4.6

CVE-2008-4210 json

fs/open.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.22 does not properly strip setuid and setgid bits when there is a write to a file, which allows lo…

published 2008-09-29 18 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2008-4193

cvss
4.6
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
2.2%
EPSS 2.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 82%
public exploits
1
Exploit-DB

Summary

fs/open.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.22 does not properly strip setuid and setgid bits when there is a write to a file, which allows local users to gain the privileges of a different group, and obtain sensitive information or possibly have unspecified other impact, by creating an executable file in a setgid directory through the (1) truncate or (2) ftruncate function in conjunction with memory-mapped I/O.

Patch / fix

  • kernel RHEL 4 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL
  • kernel-smp RHEL 4 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL
  • kernel-xenU RHEL 4 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL
  • kernel-hugemem RHEL 4 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL
  • kernel-largesmp RHEL 4 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL
  • kernel RHEL 5 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5
  • kernel-PAE RHEL 5 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5
  • kernel-xen RHEL 5 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5

red hat advisories RHSA-2008:0972RHSA-2008:0957RHSA-2009:0001RHSA-2008:0973RHSA-2008:0787

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2008-4210 updated

kernel: open() call allows setgid bit when user is not in new file's group

  • Red Hat Desktop version 3 kernel 2.4.21-58.EL, kernel-smp 2.4.21-58.EL, kernel-BOOT 2.4.21-58.EL, kernel-source 2.4.21-58.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.4.21-58.EL, kernel-unsupported 2.4.21-58.EL, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0973
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server) kernel 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5, kernel-PAE 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5, kernel-xen 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5, kernel-kdump 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5, kernel-debuginfo-common 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0957
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS (Advanced Server) version 2.1 kernel 2.4.9-e.74, kernel 2.4.18-e.67, kernel-smp 2.4.9-e.74, kernel-BOOT 2.4.9-e.74, kernel-smp 2.4.18-e.67, kernel-source 2.4.9-e.74, +3 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0787
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 3 kernel 2.4.21-58.EL, kernel-smp 2.4.21-58.EL, kernel-BOOT 2.4.21-58.EL, kernel-source 2.4.21-58.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.4.21-58.EL, kernel-unsupported 2.4.21-58.EL, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0973
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 4 kernel 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL, kernel-smp 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL, kernel-xenU 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL, kernel-largesmp 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0972
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client) kernel 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5, kernel-PAE 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5, kernel-xen 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5, kernel-kdump 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5, kernel-debuginfo-common 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0957
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop version 4 kernel 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL, kernel-smp 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL, kernel-xenU 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL, kernel-largesmp 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0972
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 2.1 kernel 2.4.9-e.74, kernel-smp 2.4.9-e.74, kernel-BOOT 2.4.9-e.74, kernel-source 2.4.9-e.74, kernel-summit 2.4.9-e.74, kernel-enterprise 2.4.9-e.74
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:0001
show 6 more
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 3 kernel 2.4.21-58.EL, kernel-smp 2.4.21-58.EL, kernel-BOOT 2.4.21-58.EL, kernel-source 2.4.21-58.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.4.21-58.EL, kernel-unsupported 2.4.21-58.EL, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0973
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 4 kernel 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL, kernel-smp 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL, kernel-xenU 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL, kernel-largesmp 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0972
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 2.1 kernel 2.4.9-e.74, kernel-smp 2.4.9-e.74, kernel-BOOT 2.4.9-e.74, kernel-source 2.4.9-e.74, kernel-summit 2.4.9-e.74, kernel-enterprise 2.4.9-e.74
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:0001
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 3 kernel 2.4.21-58.EL, kernel-smp 2.4.21-58.EL, kernel-BOOT 2.4.21-58.EL, kernel-source 2.4.21-58.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.4.21-58.EL, kernel-unsupported 2.4.21-58.EL, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0973
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 4 kernel 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL, kernel-smp 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL, kernel-xenU 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL, kernel-largesmp 2.6.9-78.0.8.EL
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0972
  • Red Hat Linux Advanced Workstation 2.1 kernel 2.4.18-e.67, kernel-smp 2.4.18-e.67, kernel-source 2.4.18-e.67
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2008:0787

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Timeline

  1. Published
  2. First public exploit (EDB-6851)

Exploit prediction

2.16% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 82% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • EDB-6851 Linux Kernel < 2.6.22 - 'ftruncate()'/'open()' Local Privilege Escalation local, 2008-10-27
  • securityfocus.com http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/31368 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 4.6 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-264 Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.