CVE-2000-0591
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 · uneditedNovell BorderManager 3.0 and 3.5 allows remote attackers to bypass URL filtering by encoding characters in the requested URL.
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 confidenceNovell BorderManager 3.0 and 3.5 proxy server fails to properly decode or normalize URL-encoded characters in HTTP requests, allowing attackers to bypass content filtering by using encoded representations of characters (such as %2F for forward slash) to construct URLs that appear different to the filter but resolve to the same resource on the backend.
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= 3.0= 3.5CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N
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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Identify if Novell BorderManager is installedCheck the installed programs or application inventory for Novell BorderManager. On Windows, check Add/Remove Programs or review installed software on the server. On NetWare, use the appropriate software inventory command.Affected if Novell BorderManager version 3.0 or 3.5 is present on the system
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Confirm the exact BorderManager versionLocate the BorderManager version information through the software itself, installation logs, or system inventory records. Verify the version number matches 3.0 or 3.5 specifically.Affected if The installed version is specifically 3.0 or 3.5
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Verify the proxy service is runningCheck if the BorderManager proxy service is active and accepting connections. This may be visible in services control panel, BorderManager administration console, or process list.Affected if The proxy service is running and accessible to process HTTP requests
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Confirm content filtering or URL filtering is enabledReview the BorderManager proxy configuration to determine if content filtering, URL filtering, or cache rules are actively enforced.Affected if Content filtering rules are configured and active, making the URL encoding bypass relevant
A system is affected if Novell BorderManager version 3.0 or 3.5 is installed with the proxy service running and content filtering 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 dataSince BorderManager is long end-of-life with no supported patches available, migrate to a modern proxy/firewall solution with proper URL normalization and ensure current security products handle encoded character sequences correctly.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation24.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2000-0591 — 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-2000-0591 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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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.
- 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