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CVE-2004-1038
A design error in the IEEE1394 specification allows attackers with physical access to a device to read and write to sensitive memory using…
- 7.2HighCVSS base score
- 0.48%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 58% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
A design error in the IEEE1394 specification allows attackers with physical access to a device to read and write to sensitive memory using a modified FireWire/IEEE 1394 client, thus bypassing intended restrictions that would normally require greater degrees of physical access to exploit. NOTE: this was reported in 2008 to affect Windows Vista, but some Linux-based operating systems have protection mechanisms against this attack.
Timeline
ID reserved
By mitre
Published
- 20 years later
· 20 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Modified | 2.0 | High7.2 | AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.48% · top 58% of all CVEs (9 Nov 2026)
Loading the EPSS history…
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.2.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References
21
- http://pacsec.jp/advisories.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 20080310 RE: [Full-disclosure] Firewire Attack on Windows Vista (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- 20080305 RE: Firewire Attack on Windows Vista (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- 20080305 Firewire Attack on Windows Vista (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/04/1258210 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 20041026 pacsec.jp advisory: Firewire/IEEE 1394 Considered Harmful to Physical Security (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- 20080308 Re: [Full-disclosure] Firewire Attack on Windows Vista (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- firewire-ieee1394-interface-installed(18041) (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_XFx_transferred
- http://md.hudora.de/presentations/firewire/2005-firewire-cansecwest.pdf (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 20080308 RE: [Full-disclosure] Firewire Attack on Windows Vista (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- 20080307 Re: Firewire Attack on Windows Vista (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- 20080309 Re: [Full-disclosure] Firewire Attack on Windows Vista (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- http://www.sec-consult.com/fileadmin/Whitepapers/Vista_Physical_Attacks.pdf (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 20080306 Re: Firewire Attack on Windows Vista (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- 20080305 Re: Firewire Attack on Windows Vista (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- 20080306 RE: Firewire Attack on Windows Vista (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- 20080310 Re: [Full-disclosure] Firewire Attack on Windows Vista (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- http://storm.net.nz/static/files/ab_firewire_rux2k6-final.pdf (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- http://storm.net.nz/projects/16 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- http://www.theage.com.au/news/security/hack-into-a-windows-pc-no-password-needed/2008/03/04/1204402423638.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 20080309 Re: Firewire Attack on Windows Vista (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_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)
- EUVD EUVD-2004-1036 (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
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2004-1038)Record last updated .