# CVE-2008-5397: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can gain elevated privileges by exploiting improper handling of user and group configuration options in the Tor process.

- **Severity:** High 7.2 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C`)
- **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:** 9 Dec 2008
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2008-5397, GHSA-f53f-xhf2-gxr5

## What is CVE-2008-5397?

CVE-2008-5397 is a high-severity vulnerability in Tor Tor, published on 9 Dec 2008. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Tor before 0.2.0.32 does not properly process the (1) User and (2) Group configuration options, which might allow local users to gain privileges by leveraging unintended supplementary group memberships of the Tor process.

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2008-5397?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Tor Tor.

## How do I fix CVE-2008-5397?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2008-5397 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2008-5397 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Tor Tor

- [CVE-2010-1676](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-1676/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2009-0939](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-0939/): Tor before 0.2.0.34 treats incomplete IPv4 addresses as valid, which has unknown impact and attack vectors related to "Spec conformance," as (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2009-0414](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-0414/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2008-5398](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-5398/): Information disclosure in n/a (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2011-2778](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-2778/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.6)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2008-5397 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2008-5397 is a high-severity vulnerability in Tor Tor, published on 9 Dec 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-2008-5397 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Tor Tor. 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-2008-5397/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-5397/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2008-5397
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2008-5397
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2008-5397

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-5397/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.