CVE-2005-4784
Multiple buffer overflows in the POSIX readdir_r function, as used in multiple packages, allow local users to cause a denial of service…
- 5.6MediumCVSS base score
- 0.44%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 62% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
Multiple buffer overflows in the POSIX readdir_r function, as used in multiple packages, allow local users to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary code via (1) a symlink attack that exploits a race condition between opendir and pathcon calls and changes the filesystem to one with a larger maximum directory-entry name length, or (2) possibly via programmer-introduced errors on operating systems with a small struct dirent, such as Solaris or BeOS, as demonstrated in packages including (a) gcj, (b) KDE, (c) libwww, (d) the Rudiments library, (e) teTeX, (f) xmail, (g) bfbtester, (h) ncftp, (i) netwib, (j) OpenOffice.org, (k) Pike, (l) reprepro, (m) Tcl, and (n) xgsmlib.
Timeline
ID reserved
By mitre
- 1 day later
· 1 day later
Published
- 18 years later
· 18 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 | Medium5.6 | AV:L/AC:H/Au:N/C:C/I:N/A:C |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.44% · top 62% of all CVEs (9 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 5.6.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References
9
- 20051106 Re: readdir_r considered harmful (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- 20051101 readdir_r considered harmful (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- 20051105 Re: readdir_r considered harmful (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- 15259 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- 20051106 Re: readdir_r considered harmful (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- 20051106 Re: readdir_r considered harmful (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- 20051105 Re: readdir_r considered harmful (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- http://womble.decadentplace.org.uk/readdir_r-advisory.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 20051108 Re: readdir_r considered harmful (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-2005-4777 (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-2005-4784)Record last updated .