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LynxApplication · University Of Kansas

CVE-2000-0209

HIGH · 7.6 CVSS v2.0 Published 2000-02-27
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
85/100
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
Buffer overflow in Lynx 2.x allows remote attackers to crash Lynx and possibly execute commands via a long URL in a malicious web page.

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 · high confidence

Buffer overflow vulnerability in Lynx 2.x text-based web browser allows remote attackers to crash the browser or potentially execute arbitrary commands by supplying an excessively long URL within a malicious web page.

MitigationUpgrade to a patched version of Lynx if available, and users should avoid visiting untrusted websites containing potentially malicious URLs.

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
LynxApplication
Affected:= 2.7= 2.8= 2.8.3_dev22

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
High
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

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. Verify Lynx is installed
    Run 'which lynx' or 'lynx --version' to confirm the browser is present on the system
    Affected if Lynx is not found on the system, the vulnerability does not apply
  2. Determine installed Lynx version
    Run 'lynx --version' and capture the version number output
    Affected if The version returned matches 2.7, 2.8, or 2.8.3_dev22 specifically
  3. Check for any installed Lynx packages
    On RPM-based systems: 'rpm -qa | grep -i lynx'. On Debian-based: 'dpkg -l | grep -i lynx'
    Affected if Any installed Lynx package version falls within the 2.x series and matches the affected versions
  4. Identify all Lynx binaries
    Run 'find /usr -name lynx -type f 2>/dev/null' to locate any Lynx executables
    Affected if Multiple Lynx installations exist and any one is an affected version

A user is affected if Lynx version 2.7, 2.8, or 2.8.3_dev22 is installed and actively used to browse web content.

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

Upgrade to a patched version of Lynx if available, and users should avoid visiting untrusted websites containing potentially malicious URLs.

Fix this in Lynx Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,090
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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-2000-0209 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