Adobe Content ServerApplication · Adobe

CVE-2002-1018

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2002-10-04
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
The library feature for Adobe Content Server 3.0 does not verify if a customer has already checked out an eBook, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (resource exhaustion) by checking out the same book multiple times.

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 confidence

Adobe Content Server 3.0 library feature lacks validation to determine whether a customer has already checked out a specific eBook. This allows an attacker to repeatedly check out the same book without restriction, consuming server resources with each checkout and eventually causing denial of service through resource exhaustion.

MitigationImplement a check in the checkout logic to verify whether the requesting customer already has that particular eBook checked out before allowing the transaction to proceed.

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
Adobe Content ServerApplication
Affected:= 3.0

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Adobe Content Server version
    Locate the Adobe Content Server installation and check the version information, typically found in the server's About dialog, install directory metadata, or version file
    Affected if The installed version is exactly Adobe Content Server 3.0
  2. Confirm checkout functionality is enabled
    Check the server configuration to verify the eBook checkout module is active and operational
    Affected if The checkout feature is enabled and accessible to users
  3. Inspect checkout database for duplicate entries
    Query the Content Server database for records where the same customer ID has multiple active checkout entries for the same eBook ISBN/identifier
    Affected if The database shows the same customer has checked out the same book multiple times without restriction
  4. Review server logs for repeated checkout events
    Examine the Adobe Content Server log files for repeated checkout operations on identical eBooks by the same customer within a short timeframe
    Affected if Logs show identical books being checked out repeatedly by the same customer without validation failures
  5. Check for resource exhaustion indicators
    Monitor server CPU, memory, and storage usage, and examine database size growth caused by unchecked checkout accumulation
    Affected if Server resources show abnormal consumption or database growth linked to excessive checkout operations

A system is affected if Adobe Content Server 3.0 is installed with checkout enabled and the same customer can repeatedly check out the same eBook without triggering a validation error, leading to duplicate checkout records and potential resource exhaustion.

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

Implement a check in the checkout logic to verify whether the requesting customer already has that particular eBook checked out before allowing the transaction to proceed.

Fix this in Adobe Content Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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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-2002-1018 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
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