Untrusted search path vulnerability in the PySys_SetArgv API function in Python 2.6 and earlier, and possibly later versions, prepends an…

Description

Untrusted search path vulnerability in the PySys_SetArgv API function in Python 2.6 and earlier, and possibly later versions, prepends an empty string to sys.path when the argv[0] argument does not contain a path separator, which might allow local users to execute arbitrary code via a Trojan horse Python file in the current working directory.

Scores

EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)

0.49% · top 58% of all CVEs (4 Nov 2026)

The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 6.9.

Weakness

• n/a
• CWE-426 (opens in a new tab)All about CWE-426 and its CVEs

Affected products

• n/a

  • affected n/a

References (23)

• [debian-bugs] 20081112 Bug#493937: [Patch] Prevent loading of Python modules in working directory (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=482814 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
• FEDORA-2010-9652 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FEDORAx_transferred
• 51087 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
• [oss-security] 20090130 Re: CVE request -- Python < 2.6 PySys_SetArgv issues (epiphany, csound, dia, eog, gedit, xchat, vim, nautilus-python, Gnumeric) (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• USN-1616-1 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTUx_transferred
• 51040 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
• GLSA-200903-41 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_GENTOOx_transferred
• [oss-security] 20090126 CVE request -- Python < 2.6 PySys_SetArgv issues (epiphany, csound, dia, eog, gedit, xchat, vim, nautilus-python, Gnumeric) (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• ADV-2010-1448 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_VUPENx_transferred
• 50858 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
• [debian-bugs-rc] 20080805 Bug#484305: bicyclerepair: bike.vim imports untrusted python files from cwd (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• GLSA-200904-06 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_GENTOOx_transferred
• ADV-2011-0122 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_VUPENx_transferred
• [oss-security] 20090128 Re: CVE request -- Python < 2.6 PySys_SetArgv issues (epiphany, csound, dia, eog, gedit, xchat, vim, nautilus-python, Gnumeric) (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• 34522 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
• 42888 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
• USN-1596-1 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTUx_transferred
• 40194 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
• RHSA-2011:0027 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
• USN-1613-2 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTUx_transferred
• 51024 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
• USN-1613-1 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTUx_transferred

Sources

The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.

• CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
• CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
• NVD (opens in a new tab)
• FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
• OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
• GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
• CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)

Badge for a README or a ticket

[![CVE-2008-5983](https://trackcve.app/badge/CVE-2008-5983.svg)](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2008-5983)

Record last updated 7 Aug 2024, 11:13 UTC.