CVE-2000-0442
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 · uneditedQpopper 2.53 and earlier allows local users to gain privileges via a formatting string in the From: header, which is processed by the euidl command.
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 confidenceQpopper versions 2.53 and earlier contain a format string vulnerability in the euidl command that processes the From: email header. Local users can inject format specifiers through the From: header to execute arbitrary code or gain elevated privileges on the system.
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= 2.52= 2.53all versionsall versionsCVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if Qpopper is installedRun 'rpm -q qpopper' or 'dpkg -l | grep qpopper' or check for the qpopper binary at /usr/sbin/popper or /usr/local/sbin/popperAffected if Qpopper package or binary exists on the system
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Identify the installed Qpopper versionRun 'qpopper -v' or 'qpopper --version' to display the version numberAffected if The version displayed is 2.52 or 2.53
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Check if running on Sun Cobalt Raq 2 or 3iRun 'uname -a' or check system documentation to identify the hardware platform and modelAffected if The system is a Sun Cobalt Raq 2 or Sun Cobalt Raq 3i appliance (all versions)
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Verify the euidl command is accessibleAttempt to invoke the euidl command via 'qpopper -e euidl' or check if the euidl handler is enabled in the qpopper configurationAffected if The euidl command is enabled and accessible to local users
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Confirm the From: header processing is activeReview the qpopper configuration file (typically /etc/qpopper.conf or /etc/xinetd.d/pop3) to ensure the UIDL command which processes the From: header is not disabledAffected if The UIDL command is enabled in the configuration
You are affected if Qpopper version 2.52 or 2.53 is installed, or if the system is a Sun Cobalt Raq 2 or Raq 3i (any Qpopper version), and the euidl/UIDL command is enabled.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpgrade Qpopper to a version newer than 2.53. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, restrict local user access and monitor for attempts to exploit the euidl command.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2000-0442 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2000-0442 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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
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