# CVE-2008-2958: Race condition in n/a

> Local attackers can exploit a race condition in checkinstall and installwatch to overwrite arbitrary files via symlink attacks on temporary directories.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.4 (`AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 1 Jul 2008
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2008-2958, GHSA-9qcj-gpqg-c7cw

## What is CVE-2008-2958?

CVE-2008-2958 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 1 Jul 2008. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Race condition in (1) checkinstall 1.6.1 and (2) installwatch allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files and have other impacts via symlink and possibly other attacks on temporary working directories.

Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2008-2958?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Checkinstall Checkinstall.

## How do I fix CVE-2008-2958?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2008-2958 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2008-2958 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2008-2958 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2008-2958 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 1 Jul 2008. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2008-2958 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-2958/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-2958/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2008-2958
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2008-2958
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2008-2958

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-2958/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.