# CVE-2009-1299: Path traversal in n/a

> Local attackers can exploit a symlink vulnerability in PulseAudio to change ownership and permissions of arbitrary files, leading to privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.9 (`AV:L/AC:M/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:** 18 Mar 2010
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2009-1299, DSA-2017-1, GHSA-36gf-xprp-mg7j

## What is CVE-2009-1299?

CVE-2009-1299 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in n/a, published on 18 Mar 2010. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The pa_make_secure_dir function in core-util.c in PulseAudio 0.9.10 and 0.9.19 allows local users to change the ownership and permissions of arbitrary files via a symlink attack on a /tmp/.esd-##### temporary file.

Weakness: CWE-59 (Improper Link Resolution Before File Access)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2009-1299?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Pulseaudio Pulseaudio.

## How do I fix CVE-2009-1299?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2009-1299 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2009-1299 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2007-1804](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-1804/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2009-1894](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-1894/): Race condition in n/a (high 7.2)
- [CVE-2008-0008](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-0008/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.2)
- [CVE-2024-11586](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-11586/): Denial of service in Ubuntu's pulseaudio (medium 4.0)
- [CVE-2014-3970](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-3970/): Denial of service in n/a (low 2.9)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2009-1299 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2009-1299 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in n/a, published on 18 Mar 2010. 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-2009-1299 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-2009-1299/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-1299/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2009-1299
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2009-1299
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2009-1299

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-1299/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.