# CVE-2011-4834: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can escalate privileges in HP ALM via symlink or FIFO attacks on temporary files.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.6 (`AV:L/AC:L/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:** No
- **Published:** 15 Dec 2011
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-9jfc-hp58-576f

## What is CVE-2011-4834?

CVE-2011-4834 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 15 Dec 2011. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The GetInstalledPackages function in the configuration tool in HP Application Lifestyle Management (ALM) 11 on AIX, HP-UX, and Solaris allows local users to gain privileges via (1) a Trojan horse /tmp/tmp.txt FIFO or (2) a symlink attack on /tmp/tmp.txt.

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2011-4834?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Hp Application Lifestyle Management.

## How do I fix CVE-2011-4834?

No fix has been published for CVE-2011-4834 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2011-4834 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2011-4834 exists.

Public exploit code:

- HP Application Lifestyle Management 11 - 'GetInstalledPackages' Local Privilege Escalation (exploitdb)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2011-4834 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2011-4834 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 15 Dec 2011. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2011-4834 exists.

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-2011-4834/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-4834/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2011-4834
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2011-4834
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2011-4834

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-4834/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.