CVE-2007-4998 Path traversal in n/a

What is CVE-2007-4998?

CVE-2007-4998 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 31 Jan 2008. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

Official description

cp, when running with an option to preserve symlinks on multiple OSes, allows local, user-assisted attackers to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack using crafted directories containing multiple source files that are copied to the same destination.

Weakness: CWE-59

Which versions are affected by CVE-2007-4998?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2007-4998?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.

Is CVE-2007-4998 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2007-4998 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as AZL-34843, AZL-6512, DEBIAN-CVE-2007-4998, GHSA-4337-x4h9-rx8j.