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CVE-2003-0620· NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

Multiple buffer overflows in man-db 2.4.1 and earlier, when installed setuid, allow local users to gain privileges via (1) MANDATORY_MANPATH

Multiple buffer overflows in man-db 2.4.1 and earlier, when installed setuid, allow local users to gain privileges via (1) MANDATORY_MANPATH, MANPATH_MAP, and MANDB_MAP arguments to add_to_dirlist in manp.c, (2) a long pathname to ult_src in ult_src.c, (3) a long .so argument to test_for_include in ult_src.c, (4) a long MANPATH environment variable, or (5) a long PATH environment variable.

MediumCVSS 4.6 · v2.0—Proof of concept Fix available
Published
Aug 27, 2003
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
0.8% · 55th percentile
CWE
—
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Report tools

JSON

Action score

18

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
18 / 40 · 4.6 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.8%

Affected systems

VendorProduct
andries brouwerman

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • andries brouwer man2.3.18
  • andries brouwer man2.3.19
  • andries brouwer man2.3.20
  • andries brouwer man2.4
  • andries brouwer man2.4.1

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:12man-dbbefore 2.4.1-132.4.1-13
Debian:3.0man-dbbefore 2.3.20-18.woody.22.3.20-18.woody.2

Same product

andries brouwer: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2003-0645man-db 2.3.12 and 2.3.18 to 2.4.1 uses certain user-controlled DEFINE directives from the ~/.manpath file, even when running setuid, which c
    18Monitor
  • CVE-2003-0124man before 1.5l allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via a malformed man file with improper quotes, which causes the my_xsprintf funct
    18Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
debian:man-db2.4.1-13 · Debian:12Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

Proof of concept available

A public proof of concept or detection signature exists. Exploit knowledge is out there; don't delay patching.

Evidence

  • Exploit-DB entry ×1

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
SourceKindDate
Exploit-DB entrylocal2003-07-29

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

  1. First PoC-29 d
  2. Published
  3. TodaySep 30, 2026+8435 d
EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
P · data can be read
Integrity
P · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
P · the service can be disrupted
Attack complexity
Low
Confidentiality impact
P
Integrity impact
P
Availability impact
P

Weakness class (CWE)

—

CVSS vector

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Noroxi analysis

No Noroxi analysis for this record yet

We don't hand-write analysis for all 385,000+ vulnerabilities; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.

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Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

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References

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records