MessengerApplication · Yahoo

CVE-2002-0322

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2002-06-25
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
Yahoo! Messenger 4.0 sends user passwords in cleartext, which could allow remote attackers to gain privileges of other users via sniffing.

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

Yahoo! Messenger 4.0 transmits user passwords in cleartext over the network, enabling remote attackers on the same network segment to intercept and capture authentication credentials via packet sniffing, potentially gaining unauthorized access to user accounts.

MitigationOrganizations should upgrade from affected Yahoo! Messenger versions to patched or alternative secure messaging platforms; network segmentation and VPN usage can also mitigate sniffing risks in transitional periods.

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
MessengerApplication
Affected:= 4.0

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. Identify installed Yahoo Messenger version
    Check the program files directory for Yahoo Messenger or check Add/Remove Programs for the exact version number
    Affected if The installed version is Yahoo Messenger 4.0 exactly
  2. Verify Yahoo Messenger 4.0 executable
    Locate the Yahoo Messenger executable (typically in Program Files/Yahoo!/Messenger) and check file properties for version information
    Affected if The executable version shows 4.0 or the version cannot be determined but the product is confirmed as Yahoo Messenger 4.0
  3. Confirm active use of Yahoo Messenger
    Check running processes for yahoo messenger.exe or check if the application is configured to run at startup
    Affected if Yahoo Messenger 4.0 is currently running or configured to run on the system

A user is affected if Yahoo Messenger version 4.0 is installed and operational on their system, as this version transmits authentication credentials in cleartext over the network.

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

Organizations should upgrade from affected Yahoo! Messenger versions to patched or alternative secure messaging platforms; network segmentation and VPN usage can also mitigate sniffing risks in transitional periods.

Fix this in Messenger Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
4.0 hours of engineering $750
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2002-0322 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2002-0322 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