CVE-2009-0641 — sys_term.c in telnetd in FreeBSD 7.0-RELEASE and other 7.x versions deletes dangerous environment variables with a method that was valid only in older FreeBSD distributions, which might allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by passing a crafted environment variable from a telnet client, as demonstrated by an LD_PRELOAD value that references a malicious library

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HIGH

sys_term.c in telnetd in FreeBSD 7.0-RELEASE and other 7.x versions deletes dangerous environment variables with a method that was valid only in older FreeBSD distributions, which might allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by passing a crafted environment variable from a telnet client, as demonstrated by an LD_PRELOAD value that references a malicious library

Published Feb 18, 2009

9.3

HIGH

CVSS 2.0

EPSS 9.32%

Description

sys_term.c in telnetd in FreeBSD 7.0-RELEASE and other 7.x versions deletes dangerous environment variables with a method that was valid only in older FreeBSD distributions, which might allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by passing a crafted environment variable from a telnet client, as demonstrated by an LD_PRELOAD value that references a malicious library.

Affected products

Remediation

No remediation recorded yet.

Metrics

9.32% 0.09321

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

EPSS probability 0.09321

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 (14 key points)

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

Date	Score	Percentile	Model
Oct 1, 2026	9.32% (0.09321)	95.23th	v5 (v2026.06.15)
Jun 15, 2026	9.35% (0.09355)	94.73th	v5 (v2026.06.15)
Apr 10, 2026	10.15% (0.10148)	93.10th	v4 (v2025.03.14)
Oct 16, 2025	8.64% (0.08639)	92.01th	v4 (v2025.03.14)
Mar 30, 2025	5.39% (0.05387)	89.14th	v4 (v2025.03.14)
Mar 29, 2025	8.99% (0.08992)	87.54th	v4 (v2025.03.14)
Mar 17, 2025	5.39% (0.05387)	89.40th	v4 (v2025.03.14)
Dec 12, 2024	8.34% (0.08337)	94.66th	v3 (v2023.03.01)
Mar 3, 2024	8.86% (0.08859)	94.39th	v3 (v2023.03.01)
May 24, 2023	6.46% (0.06456)	92.59th	v3 (v2023.03.01)
Mar 7, 2023	7.09% (0.07092)	92.90th	v3 (v2023.03.01)
Mar 6, 2023	7.44% (0.07437)	92.66th	v2 (v2022.01.01)
Apr 1, 2022	7.44% (0.07437)	91.94th	v2 (v2022.01.01)
Feb 4, 2022	7.44% (0.07437)	80.87th	v2 (v2022.01.01)

Weaknesses (2)

CWE-16

CWE-264

References (5)

http://lists.grok.org.uk/pipermail/full-disclosure/2009-February/067954.html
mailing-listx_refsource_FULLDISCExploit
http://security.freebsd.org/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-09:05.telnetd.asc
vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FREEBSDPatch
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/33777
vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDExploit
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/48780
vdb-entryx_refsource_XF
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/8055
exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DB

Link	Providers	Tags
http://lists.grok.org.uk/pipermail/full-disclosure/2009-February/067954.html		mailing-listx_refsource_FULLDISCExploit
http://security.freebsd.org/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-09:05.telnetd.asc		vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FREEBSDPatch
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/33777		vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDExploit
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/48780		vdb-entryx_refsource_XF
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/8055		exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DB

Change history (0)

No recorded changes yet.

Sources

CVE.org / MITRE

Status PUBLISHED

Assigner mitre

Published Feb 18, 2009

Updated Aug 7, 2024

Reserved Feb 18, 2009

Link CVE-2009-0641

CISA Vulnrichment

Updated n/a

NVD

Status Modified

Modified Jun 16, 2026

Link CVE-2009-0641

Red Hat

Severity n/a

Public date n/a

Links CVE-2009-0641