dbcve.org
LicqApplication

CVE-2002-0251

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2002-05-29
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
Buffer overflow in licq 1.0.4 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a long string of format string characters such as "%d".

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 licq versions 1.0.4 and earlier allows remote attackers to send a long string of format string characters (such as '%d') that overflows a buffer, causing denial of service (crash) and potentially enabling arbitrary code execution.

MitigationUpgrade licq to a patched version newer than 1.0.4, or apply vendor-supplied patches. If upgrade is not feasible, restrict network access to the licq service to minimize exposure.

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
LicqApplication
Affected:= 1.0= 1.0.1= 1.0.2= 1.0.3= 1.0.4

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. Check if Licq is installed on the system
    Run command: which licq or dpkg -l | grep licq (Debian) / rpm -qa | grep licq (Red Hat)
    Affected if Licq is present on the system
  2. Determine the installed Licq version
    Run command: licq --version or licq -v
    Affected if The version is 1.0.4 or earlier (1.0, 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.3, or 1.0.4)
  3. Check if Licq daemon is running and listening for network connections
    Run command: ps aux | grep licq and netstat -anp | grep licq or ss -anp | grep licq
    Affected if Licq daemon is running and bound to a network port, exposing the vulnerable service
  4. Verify if the system receives remote connections on Licq ports
    Check if firewall allows incoming connections on Licq port (default 3550/TCP) using iptables -L or firewall-cmd --list-all
    Affected if The Licq service port is accessible from untrusted networks

A user is affected if Licq version 1.0.4 or earlier is installed AND the Licq daemon is running and network-accessible, allowing remote attackers to send malicious format string characters.

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 licq to a patched version newer than 1.0.4, or apply vendor-supplied patches. If upgrade is not feasible, restrict network access to the licq service to minimize exposure.

Fix this in Licq Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2002-0251 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2002-0251 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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