Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2001-0378 is an old local information-disclosure issue. Readline before 4.1 on OpenBSD 2.8 and earlier could create command history files with unsafe permissions. A local user could read another user's history and recover sensitive entries such as commands, paths, or accidentally typed secrets.
Executive priority
Low urgency unless legacy OpenBSD systems remain in production. Treat as a hygiene and data-exposure issue, especially where shared local accounts or sensitive command-line activity existed.
Technical view
The issue concerns insecure permissions on readline history files in OpenBSD 2.8 and earlier when using readline prior to 4.1. The reported impact is local recovery of potentially sensitive information from history files. The provided sources do not include CVSS, CWE, exploit maturity, or detailed remediation instructions.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on legacy OpenBSD 2.8 or earlier systems using readline before 4.1. Modern supported systems are unlikely to be affected, but long-lived appliances, archived servers, or unmanaged legacy hosts should be checked.
Exploitation context
Sources describe a local attacker reading insecurely permissioned history files. There is no cited evidence of active exploitation, and the CVE is not listed as KEV in the provided bundle.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to the CVE description and IBM X-Force reference. No CVSS vector, CWE, advisory text, or exploit status is provided in the source bundle. Avoid assuming affected non-OpenBSD platforms without additional vendor evidence.
Mitigation direction
- Identify any OpenBSD 2.8 or earlier systems.
- Check whether readline before 4.1 is installed or bundled.
- Upgrade readline to 4.1 or later where applicable.
- Retire or isolate unsupported legacy OpenBSD hosts.
- Review vendor guidance for any platform-specific fix.
Validation and detection
- Inventory OpenBSD versions across managed and unmanaged assets.
- Review installed readline package versions on legacy hosts.
- Inspect user history file permissions for excessive local readability.
- Check for sensitive data already stored in history files.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
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CVE-2001-0378 mapping review
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Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- bsd-readline-permissions(6586)CVE reference · vdb-entry, x_refsource_XF
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.