# CVE-2015-1338: Path traversal in n/a

> Local attackers can exploit symlink or hard link attacks in Apport to cause disk exhaustion or gain elevated privileges.

- **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:** 1 Oct 2015
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-77gx-3rjc-296q, SUSE-SU-2017:1938-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2015-1338, USN-2744-1

## What is CVE-2015-1338?

CVE-2015-1338 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 1 Oct 2015. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

kernel_crashdump in Apport before 2.19 allows local users to cause a denial of service (disk consumption) or possibly gain privileges via a (1) symlink or (2) hard link attack on /var/crash/vmcore.log.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-1338?

It affects 2 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `apport` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 | All versions | 0.114-12.8.3.1 |
| `apport-crashdb-sle` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 | All versions | 0.114-0.8.3.1 |
| `apport` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 11 SP4 | All versions | 0.114-12.8.3.1 |
| `apport-crashdb-sle` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 11 SP4 | All versions | 0.114-0.8.3.1 |

Products: Apport Project Apport, Canonical Ubuntu Linux.

## How do I fix CVE-2015-1338?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2015-1338 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-1338 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- Apport 2.19 (Ubuntu 15.04) - Local Privilege Escalation (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

- [CVE-2022-28657](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-28657/): Denial of service in Apport (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2018-6552](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6552/): Apport treats the container PID as the global PID when /proc/<global_pid>/ is missing (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2017-14177](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-14177/): Privilege escalation in Apport (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2017-14179](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-14179/): Privilege escalation in Apport (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2017-14180](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-14180/): Privilege escalation in Apport (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2015-1338 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2015-1338 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 1 Oct 2015. 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-2015-1338 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Canonical Ubuntu Linux. 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-2015-1338/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1338/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-1338
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-1338
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2015-1338

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1338/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.