# CVE-2008-3889: Denial of service in n/a

> Local attackers can cause Postfix denial of service by leaking file descriptors via crafted commands in .forward files on Linux systems.

- **Severity:** Low 2.1 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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:** 12 Sep 2008
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** CVE-2008-4042, DEBIAN-CVE-2008-3889, GHSA-qgmw-69g2-f48g

## What is CVE-2008-3889?

CVE-2008-3889 is a low-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 12 Sep 2008. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Postfix 2.4 before 2.4.9, 2.5 before 2.5.5, and 2.6 before 2.6-20080902, when used with the Linux 2.6 kernel, leaks epoll file descriptors during execution of "non-Postfix" commands, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (application slowdown or exit) via a crafted command, as demonstrated by a command in a .forward file.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2008-3889?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Postfix Postfix.

## How do I fix CVE-2008-3889?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2008-3889 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2008-3889 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2017-10140](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-10140/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2009-2939](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-2939/): Path traversal in n/a (medium 6.9)
- [CVE-2008-4977](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-4977/): Path traversal in n/a (medium 6.9)
- [CVE-2011-1720](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-1720/): Memory corruption in n/a (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2011-0411](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-0411/): Security feature bypass in n/a (medium 6.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2008-3889 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2008-3889 is a low-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 12 Sep 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-2008-3889 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-2008-3889/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-3889/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2008-3889
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2008-3889
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2008-3889

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-3889/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.