Description
The installer in PEAR before 1.9.2 allows local users to overwrite arbitrary files via a symlink attack on the package.xml file, related to the (1) download_dir, (2) cache_dir, (3) tmp_dir, and (4) pear-build-download directories, a different vulnerability than CVE-2007-2519.
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 6.0 | php5 | 5.3.3-7+squeeze8 | DSA-2408-1 |
Red Hat
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL 6 | php-pear | 1:1.9.4-4.el6 | RHSA-2011:1741 |
Advisories 2
- DSA-2408-1 php5 - several Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
- RHSA-2011:1741 Red Hat Security Advisory: php-pear security and bug fix update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jan 29, 2026
References
- [oss-security] 20110228 Re: CVE Request: PEAR Installer 1.9.1 <= - Symlink Attack mailing-list
- [oss-security] 20110301 Re: CVE Request: PEAR Installer 1.9.1 <= - Symlink Attack mailing-list
- http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=546164
- 43533 third-party-advisory
- [oss-security] 20110301 Re: CVE Request: PEAR Installer 1.9.1 <= - Symlink Attack mailing-list
- [oss-security] 20110228 Re: CVE Request: PEAR Installer 1.9.1 <= - Symlink Attack mailing-list
- http://news.php.net/php.pear.cvs/61264
- http://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2011-1072
- [oss-security] 20110301 Re: CVE Request: PEAR Installer 1.9.1 <= - Symlink Attack mailing-list
- [oss-security] 20110301 Re: CVE Request: PEAR Installer 1.9.1 <= - Symlink Attack mailing-list
- RHSA-2011:1741 vendor-advisory
- MDVSA-2011:187 vendor-advisory
- http://pear.php.net/bugs/bug.php?id=18056
- [oss-security] 20110228 CVE Request: PEAR Installer 1.9.1 <= - Symlink Attack mailing-list
- pear-pear-installer-symlink(65721) vdb-entry
- http://svn.php.net/viewvc?view=revision&revision=308687
- http://pear.php.net/advisory-20110228.txt
- 46605 vdb-entry
- [oss-security] 20110301 Re: CVE Request: PEAR Installer 1.9.1 <= - Symlink Attack mailing-list