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Vulnerability record · CVE-2008-0008 · published 29 January 2008

CVE-2008-0008: Pulseaudio improper input validation vulnerability

Pulseaudio · Pulseaudio

The pa_drop_root function in PulseAudio 0.9.8, and a certain 0.9.9 build, does not check return values from (1) setresuid, (2) setreuid, (3) setuid, and (4) seteuid calls when attempting to drop privileges, which might allow local users to gain privileges by causing those calls to fail via attacks such as resource exhaustion.

7.2 CVSS 2.0 High EPSS 0.56% · top 55.9% CWE-20 · Improper input validation
7.2CVSS 2.0 base score
0.56%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
1Affected product versions listed by NVD
36References, 2 tagged exploit
16 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

The pa_drop_root function in PulseAudio 0.9.8, and a certain 0.9.9 build, does not check return values from (1) setresuid, (2) setreuid, (3) setuid, and (4) seteuid calls when attempting to drop privileges, which might allow local users to gain privileges by causing those calls to fail via attacks such as resource exhaustion.

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Affected products

1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=207214 Third Party Advisory
http://pulseaudio.org/changeset/2100 Exploit
http://secunia.com/advisories/28608 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/28623 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/28738 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/28952 Vendor Advisory
http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200802-07.xml Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2008/dsa-1476 Third Party Advisory
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2008:027 Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/27449 Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-573-1 Third Party Advisory
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2008/0283 Vendor Advisory
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=347822 Issue Tracking
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=425481 Issue Tracking
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/39992 VDB Entry
https://tango.0pointer.de/pipermail/pulseaudio-discuss/2008-January/001228.html Broken Link
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2008-January/msg00852.html Third Party Advisory
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2008-January/msg00869.html Third Party Advisory
http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=207214 Third Party Advisory
http://pulseaudio.org/changeset/2100 Exploit
http://secunia.com/advisories/28608 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/28623 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/28738 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/28952 Vendor Advisory
http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200802-07.xml Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2008/dsa-1476 Third Party Advisory
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2008:027 Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/27449 Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-573-1 Third Party Advisory
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2008/0283 Vendor Advisory
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=347822 Issue Tracking
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=425481 Issue Tracking
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/39992 VDB Entry
https://tango.0pointer.de/pipermail/pulseaudio-discuss/2008-January/001228.html Broken Link
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2008-January/msg00852.html Third Party Advisory
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2008-January/msg00869.html Third Party Advisory

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Related vulnerabilities

Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.

7.8CVE-2007-1804Pulseaudio vulnerabilityPulseAudio 0.9.5 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon crash) via (1) a PA_PSTREAM_DESCRIPTOR_LENGTH value of FRAME_SIZE_MAX_A…EPSS 7.4%7.2CVE-2009-1894Pulseaudio race condition vulnerabilityRace condition in PulseAudio 0.9.9, 0.9.10, and 0.9.14 allows local users to gain privileges via vectors involving creation of a hard link, related t…EPSS 0.74%6.9CVE-2009-1299Pulseaudio link following vulnerabilityThe pa_make_secure_dir function in core-util.c in PulseAudio 0.9.10 and 0.9.19 allows local users to change the ownership and permissions of arbitrar…EPSS 0.34%4.0CVE-2024-11586Pulseaudio improper resource shutdown vulnerabilityUbuntu's implementation of pulseaudio can be crashed by a malicious program if a bluetooth headset is connected.EPSS 0.30%3.3CVE-2020-11931Pulseaudio improper access control vulnerabilityAn Ubuntu-specific modification to Pulseaudio to provide security mediation for Snap-packaged applications was found to have a bypass of intended acc…EPSS 0.33%2.9CVE-2014-3970Pulseaudio vulnerabilityThe pa_rtp_recv function in modules/rtp/rtp.c in the module-rtp-recv module in PulseAudio 5.0 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial o…EPSS 1.5%9.5CVE-2026-88771Citrix NetScaler Improper Input Validation VulnerabilityImproper input validation vulnerability in Citrix NetScaler ADC and Citrix NetScaler Gateway. This issue affects ADC: before 14.1-73.37, before 13.1-…KEV9.5CVE-2026-93952Arista velocloud orchestrator improper input validation vulnerabilityVeloCloud Orchestrator (VCO) on-prem has a security issue where this issue may allow a remote attacker to access privileged internal functionality an…KEVEPSS 0.90%

Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2008-0008), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-26). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.