CVE-2004-0233: Utempter allows device names that contain ..

Security readout for executives and security teams

CVE-2004-0233 is a legacy local vulnerability in utempter handling of terminal device names. A local user could abuse directory traversal in a device name, with symlink behavior and trusting applications, to overwrite files. The source bundle does not provide a score, affected version list, or current vendor fix details. Likely exposure is older Unix or Linux environments that still include the vulnerable utempter behavior referenced by historical Mandriva, Sun, Red Hat, Slackware, and Gentoo advisories. The bundle lists affected vendor and product as n/a, so confirm package presence and vendor applicability before scoping broadly. Handle as a legacy local-risk cleanup item unless affected multi-user systems are still business-critical. Urgency rises where untrusted local users have shell access or where old distributions remain unsupported. Mitigation focus: Check vendor advisories for applicable utempter package updates.; Inventory legacy systems for installed utempter packages.; Prioritize hosts with local multi-user shell access..

Prepared

Jun 30, 2026, 05:56 UTC (UTC+00:00)

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.