Postfix before 2.3.15, 2.4 before 2.4.8, 2.5 before 2.5.4, and 2.6 before 2.6-20080814, when the operating system supports hard links to symlinks, allows local users to append e-mail messages to a file to which a root-owned symlink points, by creating a hard link to this symlink and then sending a message. NOTE: this can be leveraged to gain privileges if there is a symlink to an init script.
CVE-2008-2936
This CVE was only ever scored under CVSS v2.0. NVD CVSS v2.0 base 6.2 — v2 rates that MEDIUM (v2 bands: LOW 0.0–3.9 / MEDIUM 4.0–6.9 / HIGH 7.0–10.0; v2 has no CRITICAL band). Vector AV:L/AC:H/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C. CVSS v2 is an older, coarser metric than v3.1/v4.0 (no Scope, no User Interaction, no Attack Requirements), so it is not directly comparable to a v3 or v4 score. NVD has never re-scored this record under v3. EPSS predicts 1.0% exploitation probability in the next 30 days, which is reflected in EG Risk but does not lift the v2 base. Confidence: LOW.
- Lower severity and no public exploit yet
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v2.0 (legacy)
- 6.2MEDIUMNVD never assigned a CVSS v3 rating to this CVE
- EG Score
- 6.2(low)
- EG Risk
- 58(Track)EG Risk 58/100SSVC: Track
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).
How it’s computedSeverity62% × 45%Exploitation65% × 40%Automatability30% × 15%Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence. - EPSS PROB
- 1%
- EPSS %ILE
- 61%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
August 18, 2008
Last Modified
April 23, 2026
References (66)
- secalert@redhatftp://ftp.porcupine.org/mirrors/postfix-release/experimental/postfix-2.6-20080814.HISTORY
- secalert@redhatftp://ftp.porcupine.org/mirrors/postfix-release/official/postfix-2.3.15.HISTORY
- secalert@redhatftp://ftp.porcupine.org/mirrors/postfix-release/official/postfix-2.4.8.HISTORY
- secalert@redhatftp://ftp.porcupine.org/mirrors/postfix-release/official/postfix-2.5.4.HISTORY
- secalert@redhathttp://article.gmane.org/gmane.mail.postfix.announce/110
- secalert@redhathttp://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2008-08/msg00002.html
- secalert@redhathttp://secunia.com/advisories/31469
- secalert@redhathttp://secunia.com/advisories/31474
- secalert@redhathttp://secunia.com/advisories/31477
- secalert@redhathttp://secunia.com/advisories/31485
- secalert@redhathttp://secunia.com/advisories/31500
- secalert@redhathttp://secunia.com/advisories/31530
- secalert@redhathttp://secunia.com/advisories/32231
- secalert@redhathttp://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200808-12.xml
- secalert@redhathttp://securityreason.com/securityalert/4160
Patch Availability(2)
| Vendor / Ecosystem | Fixed in / Patch | Released | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ubuntu | postfix (2.5.1-2ubuntu1.1) @ hardy | 2026-05-30 | ubuntu |
| redhat | postfix-2:2.3.3-2.1.el5_2 | 2008-08-14 | redhat |
Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.
Affected Packages
(6 across 6 ecosystems)
Debian:11(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| postfix | — | 2.5.4-1 | — |
Debian:12(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| postfix | — | 2.5.4-1 | — |
Debian:13(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| postfix | — | 2.5.4-1 | — |
Debian:14(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| postfix | — | 2.5.4-1 | — |
Debian:4.0(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| postfix | 2.3.8-2, 2.3.8-2etch1 | 2.3.8-2+etch1 | — |
Debian:5.0(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| postfix | — | 2.5.2-2lenny1 | — |
All Vendor Advisories
(2)
Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 1× in last 7d / 13× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 100 of 129 total refreshes for this CVE.
- 2026-09-18 19:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-17 19:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-15 03:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-14 15:44 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-09-13 16:40 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-12 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-10 09:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-06 13:41 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-05 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-04 13:55 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-04 04:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-30 01:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-28 21:34 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-26 16:09 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-15 01:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-10 05:39 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-08 16:31 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-07 16:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-06 13:41 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-05 19:11 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-04 15:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-03 10:28 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-30 01:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-26 13:35 UTCEG score recompute▲ 6.20
- 2026-07-25 14:12 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-07-25 06:11 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-24 14:12 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 00:56 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-23 00:35 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-23 00:01 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 21:40 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-20 17:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-18 09:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-16 16:58 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 16:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 16:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 01:55 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 22:25 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 06:07 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-11 08:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-11 08:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-09 19:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-08 15:09 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-08 00:35 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-06 16:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 02:19 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 02:19 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-05 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-05 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-04 06:27 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-02 14:00 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-01 15:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-01 15:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-30 23:19 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-29 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-29 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 04:52 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-27 03:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-25 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-25 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 21:29 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 21:29 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-22 14:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-22 14:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 14:53 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 14:53 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-19 19:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-19 19:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-19 12:25 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-18 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-18 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-17 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-17 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-16 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-16 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-15 17:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-14 23:13 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-13 22:57 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-12 23:08 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-12 23:08 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-11 13:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-10 22:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-10 13:17 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-08 14:13 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-05 22:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-05 22:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-05 06:07 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-04 13:09 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-04 13:09 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-02 20:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-02 20:10 UTCEPSS rescore
Publicly available exploits
(1 reference)Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Exploit-DB entry). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.
- Exploit-DBEDB-6337✓ verifiedFirst seen Aug 31, 2008
Postfix 2.6-20080814 - 'symlink' Local Privilege Escalation
Open source ↗
Related CVEs(same product)
Same product
10 shownDebian:5.0:postfix · Debian:11:postfix
Frequently asked(4)
What is CVE-2008-2936?
When was CVE-2008-2936 disclosed?
Is CVE-2008-2936 actively exploited?
How do I remediate CVE-2008-2936?
Dependency Blast Radius
See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2008-2936
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2008-2936?
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