CVE-2008-5162
The arc4random function in the kernel in FreeBSD 6.3 through 7.1 does not have a proper entropy source for a short time period immediately…
- 7.0HighCVSS base score
- 0.32%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 75% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
The arc4random function in the kernel in FreeBSD 6.3 through 7.1 does not have a proper entropy source for a short time period immediately after boot, which makes it easier for attackers to predict the function's return values and conduct certain attacks against the GEOM framework and various network protocols, related to the Yarrow random number generator.
Timeline
ID reserved
By freebsd
- 7 days later
· 7 days later
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 | 3.1 | High7.0 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.32% · top 75% of all CVEs (9 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.0.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References
5
- 32871 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- FreeBSD-SA-08:11 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FREEBSDx_transferred
- 1021276 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACKx_transferred
- 50137 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_OSVDBx_transferred
- 32447 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_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-2008-5140 (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-2008-5162)Record last updated .