CVE-2004-0850: Star before 1.5_alpha46 does not drop the effective user ID (euid) before calling external programs, which...

Security readout for executives and security teams

This is a legacy local privilege-escalation issue in Star. Older Star versions did not drop elevated privileges before launching external programs, so a local user could abuse environment-controlled program selection to run code with higher privileges. The evidence does not show remote exposure or current active exploitation. Exposure is most likely on older Unix or Linux systems with Star installed, especially where Star runs with elevated privileges or is available to untrusted local users. Treat as a moderate-priority legacy exposure. It matters most on shared systems, build hosts, or servers where local users have accounts. It is less urgent than internet-facing remote-code-execution issues unless vulnerable Star is present in privileged use. Mitigation focus: Inventory systems for Star installations and package versions.; Apply vendor or distribution updates for Star.; Prioritize versions before 1.5_alpha46 for remediation review..

Prepared

Jun 30, 2026, 02:43 UTC (UTC+00:00)

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