Is CVE-2008-5983 being actively exploited?

CVE-2008-5983 is not currently listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2008-5983?

CVE-2008-5983 has a CVSS 2.0 base score of 6.9 (MEDIUM).

CVE-2008-5983

MEDIUM · CVSS 6.9EPSS 0.5%EU EUVD

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.

Key facts

CVSS score: 6.9 (v2.0)
Severity: MEDIUM
CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Weakness (CWE): CWE-426
EPSS score: 0.5% (42th percentile)
In CISA KEV: No
In EU EUVD: Yes (EUVD-2008-5953)
Published: January 28, 2009
NVD last modified: June 16, 2026
Status: Modified

EU Vulnerability Database (EUVD)

This vulnerability is also tracked by ENISA as EUVD-2008-5953 in the EU Vulnerability Database. Last updated in EUVD on August 7, 2024.

View on the EU Vulnerability Database

Affected products

canonical / ubuntu linux
canonical / ubuntu linux
canonical / ubuntu linux
canonical / ubuntu linux
fedoraproject / fedora
python / python

References

http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2010-June/042751.html(Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
http://secunia.com/advisories/34522(Not Applicable)
http://secunia.com/advisories/40194(Not Applicable)
http://secunia.com/advisories/42888(Not Applicable)
http://secunia.com/advisories/50858(Not Applicable)
http://secunia.com/advisories/51024(Not Applicable)
http://secunia.com/advisories/51040(Not Applicable)
http://secunia.com/advisories/51087(Not Applicable)
http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200903-41.xml(Third Party Advisory)
http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-200904-06.xml(Third Party Advisory)
http://www.mail-archive.com/debian-bugs-dist%40lists.debian.org/msg586010.html
http://www.nabble.com/Bug-484305%3A-bicyclerepair%3A-bike.vim-imports-untrusted-python-files-from-cwd-td18848099.html(Broken Link)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2009/01/26/2(Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2009/01/28/5(Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2009/01/30/2(Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2011-0027.html(Third Party Advisory)
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1596-1(Third Party Advisory)
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1613-1(Third Party Advisory)
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1613-2(Third Party Advisory)
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1616-1(Third Party Advisory)
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2010/1448(Permissions Required)
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2011/0122(Permissions Required)
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=482814(Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory)

Last updated September 17, 2026 · Source: NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST.org EPSS

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