Last updated 6 July 2026

Last updated 6 July 2026

readline.sh in socat through 1.8.0.1 relies on the /tmp/$USER/stderr2 file.

Format string vulnerability in the msg function in error.c in socat 1.4.0.3 and earlier, when used as an HTTP proxy client and run with the -ly option, allows remote attackers or local users to execute arbitrary code via format string specifiers in a syslog message.

Socat upstream, released an advisory: [1] http://www.dest-unreach.org/socat/contrib/socat-secadv2.html

describing a stack overflow flaw, present in Socat bidirectional data relay, when processing command line arguments (address specifications, host names, file names), longer than 512 bytes. An attacker, able to inject data into sockat's command line (potentially remotely via CGI script invocation), could use this flaw to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the socat process.

References: [2] http://bugs.gentoo.org/showbug.cgi?id=330785

Upstream patch against v1.7.2: [3] http://www.dest-unreach.org/socat/download/socat-1.7.1.3.patch

Credit: Issue discovered and reported by Felix Gröbert of Google Security Team

CVE Request: [4] http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2010/08/02/3