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Vulnerability record · CVE-2008-2936 · published 18 August 2008

CVE-2008-2936: Postfix permissions and access controls vulnerability

Postfix · Postfix

Postfix before 2.3.15, 2.4 before 2.4.8, 2.5 before 2.5.4, and 2.6 before 2.6-20080814, when the operating system supports hard links to symlinks, allows local users to append e-mail messages to a file to which a root-owned symlink points, by creating a hard link to this symlink and then sending a message. NOTE: this can be leveraged to gain privileges if there is a symlink to an init script.

6.2 CVSS 2.0 Medium EPSS 0.99% · top 38.9% CWE-264 · Permissions and access controls
6.2CVSS 2.0 base score
0.99%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
1Affected product versions listed by NVD
66References
16 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

Postfix before 2.3.15, 2.4 before 2.4.8, 2.5 before 2.5.4, and 2.6 before 2.6-20080814, when the operating system supports hard links to symlinks, allows local users to append e-mail messages to a file to which a root-owned symlink points, by creating a hard link to this symlink and then sending a message. NOTE: this can be leveraged to gain privileges if there is a symlink to an init script.

AV:L/AC:H/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
ftp://ftp.porcupine.org/mirrors/postfix-release/experimental/postfix-2.6-20080814.HISTORY
ftp://ftp.porcupine.org/mirrors/postfix-release/official/postfix-2.3.15.HISTORY
ftp://ftp.porcupine.org/mirrors/postfix-release/official/postfix-2.4.8.HISTORY
ftp://ftp.porcupine.org/mirrors/postfix-release/official/postfix-2.5.4.HISTORY
http://article.gmane.org/gmane.mail.postfix.announce/110
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2008-08/msg00002.html
http://secunia.com/advisories/31469
http://secunia.com/advisories/31474
http://secunia.com/advisories/31477
http://secunia.com/advisories/31485 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/31500 Vendor Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/31530
http://secunia.com/advisories/32231
http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200808-12.xml
http://securityreason.com/securityalert/4160
http://wiki.rpath.com/Advisories:rPSA-2008-0259
http://www.debian.org/security/2008/dsa-1629
http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/938323 US Government Resource
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2008:171
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2008-0839.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/495474/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/495632/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/495882/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/30691 Patch
http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1020700
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2008/2385
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/44460
https://issues.rpath.com/browse/RPL-2689
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A10033
https://usn.ubuntu.com/636-1/
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/6337
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2008-October/msg00271.html
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-package-announce/2008-October/msg00287.html
ftp://ftp.porcupine.org/mirrors/postfix-release/experimental/postfix-2.6-20080814.HISTORY
ftp://ftp.porcupine.org/mirrors/postfix-release/official/postfix-2.3.15.HISTORY
ftp://ftp.porcupine.org/mirrors/postfix-release/official/postfix-2.4.8.HISTORY
ftp://ftp.porcupine.org/mirrors/postfix-release/official/postfix-2.5.4.HISTORY
http://article.gmane.org/gmane.mail.postfix.announce/110
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2008-08/msg00002.html
http://secunia.com/advisories/31469

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Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2008-2936), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-27). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.