Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This is an old local file-overwrite flaw in openvas-scanner. If a vulnerable scanner generated OVAL system characteristics with the ovaldi integration enabled, a local attacker could abuse insecure temporary-file handling to overwrite arbitrary files on that host.
Executive priority
Treat as a targeted legacy-infrastructure risk. Prioritize if old scanner hosts remain operational, especially where multiple administrators or local users can access the system.
Technical view
openvas-scanner before 2011-09-11 created a temporary file insecurely during OVAL system-characteristics generation with ovaldi enabled. The documented impact is local symlink attack leading to arbitrary file overwrite. The source bundle provides no CVSS score, CWE mapping, or confirmed exploit-in-the-wild evidence.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely limited to legacy openvas-scanner installations from 2011 or earlier, specifically where the ovaldi integrated tool path is enabled or still used.
Exploitation context
The evidence supports local exploitation only. No KEV listing is present, and the provided sources do not confirm active exploitation, remote exploitation, or public weaponization.
Researcher notes
The core condition is insecure temporary-file creation in the ovaldi-enabled OVAL generation path. Evidence is sparse: no CVSS, CWE, patch commit, exploit status, or distribution fix detail is included in the supplied bundle.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory openvas-scanner deployments and identify versions at or before the 2011-09-11 cutoff.
- Upgrade openvas-scanner beyond the vulnerable cutoff where vendor packaging supports it.
- If upgrade is delayed, review vendor guidance for ovaldi-related temporary-file handling.
- Restrict local shell access on scanner hosts to trusted administrators only.
Validation and detection
- Check installed openvas-scanner package version against the 2011-09-11 affected cutoff.
- Confirm whether ovaldi integrated tool functionality is enabled or used.
- Review scanner host local user access and privilege boundaries.
- Check vendor trackers for distribution-specific fixed package status.
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
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CVE-2011-3351 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
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
- https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2011-3351CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2011-3351CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2011-3351CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2011-3351CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
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.