Extcompose in metamail does not verify the output file before writing to it, which allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack
Published May 10, 2005
2.1
LOWCVSS 2.0
EPSS 0.33%
Description
Extcompose in metamail does not verify the output file before writing to it, which allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack.
Affected products
No data.
- 2.7
No data.
No Red Hat product state for this CVE.
No package ranges for this CVE.
Remediation
Red Hat statement
The Red Hat Security Response Team rated this issue as having low security impact. This issue affected Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 but due to the low severity will not be fixed. metamail was not shipped in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, 4, or 5.
Metrics
No CVSS v4.0 score for this CVE.
No CVSS v3.1 score for this CVE.
No CVSS v3.0 score for this CVE.
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N
This CVE is not in the KEV list.
No CISA SSVC assessment for this CVE yet.
Estimated probability of exploitation in the wild in the next 30 days (FIRST EPSS). As of Oct 1, 2026.
Score over time
2022–2026- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Percentile over time
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Table of values (9 key points)
Flat stretches are collapsed; showing up to 120 newest points.
| Date | Score | Percentile | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | 0.33% (0.00329) | 23.68th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jun 15, 2026 | 0.33% (0.00329) | 24.49th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Mar 17, 2025 | 0.07% (0.00068) | 18.22th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Dec 12, 2024 | 0.04% (0.00042) | 5.07th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 7, 2023 | 0.04% (0.00042) | 5.63th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 6, 2023 | 0.89% (0.00890) | 30.33th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Sep 10, 2022 | 0.89% (0.00890) | 28.64th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Apr 1, 2022 | 0.89% (0.00890) | 26.62th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 4, 2022 | 0.89% (0.00890) | 12.04th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
No CWE recorded.
References (6)
- http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=107910934926062&w=2 mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQ
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/9850 vdb-entryx_refsource_BID
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2004-1808 Vendor Advisory
- https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/15460 vdb-entryx_refsource_XF
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2004-1808
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2004-1808
| Link | Providers | Tags |
|---|---|---|
| http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=107910934926062&w=2 | mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQ | |
| http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/9850 | vdb-entryx_refsource_BID | |
| https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2004-1808 | Vendor Advisory | |
| https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/15460 | vdb-entryx_refsource_XF | |
| https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2004-1808 | ||
| https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2004-1808 |
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.