CVE-2001-0252
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 · uneditediPlanet (formerly Netscape) Enterprise Server 4.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via a long HTTP GET request that contains many "/../" (dot dot) sequences.
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 confidenceiPlanet Enterprise Server 4.1 suffers from a denial-of-service vulnerability where remote attackers can send HTTP GET requests containing excessive '/../' (directory traversal) sequences. The server expends excessive resources processing these malformed requests, causing it to become unresponsive.
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= 4.1sp5CVSS 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
- None
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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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Confirm iPlanet Enterprise Server is installedLook for iPlanet or Netscape Enterprise Server installation directories (common paths: /usr/netscape/suitespot/ on Unix, C:\Netscape\Server\ on Windows) or check running processes for 'httpd' or 'netscape' processes.Affected if The software is not present on the system.
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Identify the installed versionCheck the server version by reviewing configuration files (magnus.conf, obj.conf), version files in the installation directory, or by examining the HTTP Server-Banner response header when making a request to the server.Affected if The version is 4.1sp5 specifically.
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Verify the HTTP service is exposedConfirm the web server is running and accessible on the network by attempting to connect to ports 80 or 443 (or configured listener ports).Affected if The server is not network-accessible (localhost only or firewall-blocked).
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Check for directory traversal request handlingSend a test HTTP GET request with multiple '/../' sequences (such as GET /../../../../etc/passwd) to the server and observe the response time and resource usage.Affected if The server takes an abnormally long time to respond or hangs when processing requests with excessive directory traversal sequences.
The system is affected if iPlanet Enterprise Server version 4.1sp5 is installed and the HTTP service is network-accessible, allowing remote attackers to trigger the resource exhaustion via malformed directory traversal requests.
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 to a supported iPlanet/Netscape Enterprise Server version or migrate to a modern web server. If immediate patching is unavailable, deploy a web application firewall or reverse proxy to filter malicious requests with excessive directory traversal sequences.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2001-0252 — 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-2001-0252 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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