CVE-2008-4609 — kernel: TCP protocol vulnerabilities from Outpost24

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HIGH

kernel: TCP protocol vulnerabilities from Outpost24

Published Oct 20, 2008

7.1

HIGH

CVSS 2.0

EPSS 32.12%

Description

The TCP implementation in (1) Linux, (2) platforms based on BSD Unix, (3) Microsoft Windows, (4) Cisco products, and probably other operating systems allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (connection queue exhaustion) via multiple vectors that manipulate information in the TCP state table, as demonstrated by sockstress.

Affected products

Remediation

Red Hat statement

The attacks reported by Outpost24 AB target the design limitations of the TCP protocol. Due to upstreams decision not to release updates, Red Hat do not plan to release updates to resolve these issues however, the effects of these attacks can be reduced via the mitigation methods as written in https://access.redhat.com/solutions/18729.

Metrics

32.12% 0.32123

Estimated probability of exploitation in the wild in the next 30 days (FIRST EPSS). As of Oct 1, 2026.

EPSS probability 0.32123

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 (15 key points)

Flat stretches are collapsed; showing up to 120 newest points.

Date	Score	Percentile	Model
Oct 1, 2026	32.12% (0.32123)	98.27th	v5 (v2026.06.15)
Jun 15, 2026	32.12% (0.32123)	98.09th	v5 (v2026.06.15)
Jan 18, 2026	2.55% (0.02554)	85.10th	v4 (v2025.03.14)
Mar 17, 2025	0.61% (0.00606)	67.78th	v4 (v2025.03.14)
Feb 14, 2025	1.14% (0.01138)	84.78th	v3 (v2023.03.01)
Aug 16, 2024	2.61% (0.02608)	90.50th	v3 (v2023.03.01)
Jul 11, 2024	3.65% (0.03651)	91.80th	v3 (v2023.03.01)
Mar 25, 2024	4.55% (0.04547)	92.31th	v3 (v2023.03.01)
Jul 11, 2023	5.05% (0.05052)	91.81th	v3 (v2023.03.01)
May 31, 2023	4.20% (0.04202)	90.97th	v3 (v2023.03.01)
Apr 20, 2023	3.01% (0.03009)	89.41th	v3 (v2023.03.01)
Mar 9, 2023	4.20% (0.04202)	90.90th	v3 (v2023.03.01)
Mar 7, 2023	3.78% (0.03777)	90.43th	v3 (v2023.03.01)
Mar 6, 2023	30.51% (0.30507)	97.52th	v2 (v2022.01.01)
Feb 4, 2022	30.51% (0.30507)	96.34th	v2 (v2022.01.01)

Weaknesses (1)

CWE-16

References (19)

http://blog.robertlee.name/2008/10/conjecture-speculation.html
x_refsource_MISCBroken Link
http://insecure.org/stf/tcp-dos-attack-explained.html
x_refsource_MISCBroken Link
http://lists.immunitysec.com/pipermail/dailydave/2008-October/005360.html
mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTBroken Link
http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=125856010926699&w=2
vendor-advisoryx_refsource_HPThird Party Advisory
http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com.au/articles/27154-TCP-is-fundamentally-borked
x_refsource_MISCBroken Link
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/products_security_advisory09186a0080af511d.shtml
vendor-advisoryx_refsource_CISCOBroken Link
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/products_security_response09186a0080a15120.html
vendor-advisoryx_refsource_CISCOBroken Link
http://www.cpni.gov.uk/Docs/tn-03-09-security-assessment-TCP.pdf
x_refsource_MISCBroken Link
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2013:150
vendor-advisoryx_refsource_MANDRIVABroken Link
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/cpujul2012-392727.html
x_refsource_CONFIRMThird Party Advisory
http://www.outpost24.com/news/news-2008-10-02.html
x_refsource_MISCBroken Link
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA09-251A.html
third-party-advisoryx_refsource_CERTThird Party AdvisoryUS Government Resource
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2008-4609
Vendor Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=465932
Issue Tracking
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2009/ms09-048
vendor-advisoryx_refsource_MSPatchThird Party Advisory
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2008-4609
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A6340
vdb-entrysignaturex_refsource_OVALBroken Link
https://www.cert.fi/haavoittuvuudet/2008/tcp-vulnerabilities.html
x_refsource_MISCBroken Link
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2008-4609

Link	Providers	Tags
http://blog.robertlee.name/2008/10/conjecture-speculation.html		x_refsource_MISCBroken Link
http://insecure.org/stf/tcp-dos-attack-explained.html		x_refsource_MISCBroken Link
http://lists.immunitysec.com/pipermail/dailydave/2008-October/005360.html		mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTBroken Link
http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=125856010926699&w=2		vendor-advisoryx_refsource_HPThird Party Advisory
http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com.au/articles/27154-TCP-is-fundamentally-borked		x_refsource_MISCBroken Link
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/products_security_advisory09186a0080af511d.shtml		vendor-advisoryx_refsource_CISCOBroken Link
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/products_security_response09186a0080a15120.html		vendor-advisoryx_refsource_CISCOBroken Link
http://www.cpni.gov.uk/Docs/tn-03-09-security-assessment-TCP.pdf		x_refsource_MISCBroken Link
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2013:150		vendor-advisoryx_refsource_MANDRIVABroken Link
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/cpujul2012-392727.html		x_refsource_CONFIRMThird Party Advisory
http://www.outpost24.com/news/news-2008-10-02.html		x_refsource_MISCBroken Link
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA09-251A.html		third-party-advisoryx_refsource_CERTThird Party AdvisoryUS Government Resource
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2008-4609		Vendor Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=465932		Issue Tracking
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2009/ms09-048		vendor-advisoryx_refsource_MSPatchThird Party Advisory
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2008-4609
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A6340		vdb-entrysignaturex_refsource_OVALBroken Link
https://www.cert.fi/haavoittuvuudet/2008/tcp-vulnerabilities.html		x_refsource_MISCBroken Link
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2008-4609

Change history (0)

No recorded changes yet.

Sources

CVE.org / MITRE

Status PUBLISHED

Assigner mitre

Published Oct 20, 2008

Updated Aug 7, 2024

Reserved Oct 20, 2008

Link CVE-2008-4609

CISA Vulnrichment

Updated n/a

NVD

Status Modified

Modified Jun 16, 2026

Link CVE-2008-4609

Red Hat

Severity Moderate

Public date Sep 8, 2009

Links CVE-2008-4609 - Bugzilla