What is CVE-2008-4996?

CVE-2008-4996 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Initramfs-Tools, classified under Improper Link Resolution Before File Access. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2008-11-07.

How severe is CVE-2008-4996?

Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.

Vulnerability in Debian Initramfs-Tools

CVE-2008-4996

init in initramfs-tools 0.92f allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on the /tmp/initramfs.debug temporary file. NOTE: the vendor disputes this vulnerability, stating that "init is [used in] a single-user context; there's no possibility that this is exploitable.

Published 2008-11-07 · last modified 2026-06-16.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.004 (35.4th percentile), scored 2026-10-01.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 35th percentile — 35.4% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.004 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Debian Initramfs-Tools — versions 0.92f

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-59 — Improper Link Resolution Before File Access

References

dev.gentoo.org/~rbu/security/debiantemp/initramfs-tools (Exploit)
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2008/10/30/2 (mailing-list)
bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi
bugs.debian.org/496386

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2008-4996?: CVE-2008-4996 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Debian Initramfs-Tools, classified under Improper Link Resolution Before File Access. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2008-11-07.
How severe is CVE-2008-4996?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.