CVE-2008-3908
Multiple buffer overflows in Princeton WordNet (wn) 3.0 allow context-dependent attackers to execute arbitrary code via (1) a long…
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- mitre
Description
Multiple buffer overflows in Princeton WordNet (wn) 3.0 allow context-dependent attackers to execute arbitrary code via (1) a long argument on the command line; a long (2) WNSEARCHDIR, (3) WNHOME, or (4) WNDBVERSION environment variable; or (5) a user-supplied dictionary (aka data file). NOTE: since WordNet itself does not run with special privileges, this issue only crosses privilege boundaries when WordNet is invoked as a third party component.
Timeline
ID reserved
By mitre
Published
- 16 years later
· 16 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 | High10.0 | AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 4.4% · top 8.6% of all CVEs (9 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 10.0.
Weakness
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References (12)
- 30958 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- 32184 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- http://www.ocert.org/analysis/2008-014/wordnet.patch (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- wordnet-binsrch-search-bo(44851) (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_XFx_transferred
- 20080901 [oCERT-2008-014] WordNet stack and heap overflows (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- http://www.ocert.org/advisories/ocert-2008-014.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- wordnet-wninit-bo(44850) (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_XFx_transferred
- http://www.ocert.org/analysis/2008-014/analysis.txt (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 4217 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SREASONx_transferred
- GLSA-200810-01 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_GENTOOx_transferred
- wordnet-morphinit-bo(44849) (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_XFx_transferred
- wordnet-morph-search-bo(44848) (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_XFx_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
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2008-3908)Record last updated .