Firewall 1Application · Checkpoint

CVE-2000-0116

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2000-01-29
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Firewall-1 does not properly filter script tags, which allows remote attackers to bypass the "Strip Script Tags" restriction by including an extra < in front of the SCRIPT tag.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

Check Point Firewall-1's 'Strip Script Tags' security feature can be bypassed by prefixing script tags with an extra '< character (e.g., '<SCRIPT' instead of '<SCRIPT'). This allows attackers to inject malicious script content through the firewall that would otherwise be filtered, enabling cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks against protected systems.

MitigationApply the relevant Check Point Firewall-1 patch from the 2000 timeframe, or upgrade to a modern firewall version with current XSS filtering capabilities. If legacy systems cannot be patched, implement additional input validation layers or web application firewall rules to catch the bypass pattern.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Firewall 1Application
Affected:= 3.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm Check Point Firewall-1 is deployed
    Locate Check Point Firewall-1 management servers or firewall appliances in your environment, typically managed via SmartCenter Server and enforcement points.
    Affected if Check Point Firewall-1 is not present in the environment - you are not affected.
  2. Identify the installed Firewall-1 version
    Access the Firewall-1 management interface (SmartCenter/SmartDashboard) or check the version through the cpstat command: 'cpstat -f version fw' or review installation documentation.
    Affected if Version is 3.0 - proceed to next check. Versions higher than 3.0 are not affected by this specific CVE.
  3. Verify the Strip Script Tags feature is enabled
    In Firewall-1 SmartDashboard or via the fw samp command, inspect the HTTP security settings under the 'Strip Script Tags' or content inspection rules.
    Affected if The 'Strip Script Tags' security feature is enabled - your environment is affected. If disabled, the bypass does not apply.

Your environment is affected if you are running Check Point Firewall-1 version 3.0 AND have the 'Strip Script Tags' security feature enabled, allowing scripts with an extra '<' prefix to pass through the filter.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the relevant Check Point Firewall-1 patch from the 2000 timeframe, or upgrade to a modern firewall version with current XSS filtering capabilities. If legacy systems cannot be patched, implement additional input validation layers or web application firewall rules to catch the bypass pattern.

Fix this in Firewall 1 Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2000-0116 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data