# CVE-2010-5250: Path traversal in n/a

> Local attackers can escalate privileges by placing a malicious DLL in the current working directory, exploiting an untrusted search path in the Pthreads-win32 library.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.9 (`AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 7 Sep 2012
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-jwrv-23j5-7gc8

## What is CVE-2010-5250?

CVE-2010-5250 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in n/a, published on 7 Sep 2012. 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

Untrusted search path vulnerability in the pthread_win32_process_attach_np function in pthreadGC2.dll in Pthreads-win32 2.8.0 allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse quserex.dll file in the current working directory.  NOTE: some of these details are obtained from third party information.

Weakness: CWE-426 (Untrusted Search Path)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2010-5250?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Pthread-Win32 Project Pthreads-Win32.

## How do I fix CVE-2010-5250?

No fix has been published for CVE-2010-5250 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2010-5250 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2010-5250 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2010-5250 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2010-5250 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in n/a, published on 7 Sep 2012. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2010-5250 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-2010-5250/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-5250/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2010-5250
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2010-5250
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2010-5250

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-5250/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.