BugzillaApplication · Mozilla

CVE-2002-1198

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2002-10-28
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
Bugzilla 2.16.x before 2.16.1 does not properly filter apostrophes from an email address during account creation, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary SQL via a SQL injection attack.

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

Bugzilla 2.16.x before 2.16.1 contains a SQL injection vulnerability in the account creation functionality. The email address field does not properly sanitize or filter apostrophes, allowing attackers to inject arbitrary SQL commands through the email parameter during user registration.

MitigationUpgrade Bugzilla to version 2.16.1 or later. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, implement input validation to filter or escape special characters (particularly apostrophes) in the email address field during account creation as a temporary workaround.

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
BugzillaApplication
Affected:= 2.14= 2.14.1= 2.14.2= 2.14.3= 2.14.4= 2.16

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 the installed Bugzilla version
    Locate the Bugzilla version file (typically Bugzilla/Version.pm or check the bottom of the main page). Compare the version number against the affected range: 2.14, 2.14.1, 2.14.2, 2.14.3, 2.14.4, or 2.16.
    Affected if The installed version is any of 2.14.x (any 2.14.x patch) or 2.16, but not 2.16.1 or later.
  2. Verify user account registration is enabled
    Check the Bugzilla parameters file (data/params) or access the Bugzilla preferences. Look for the parameter that controls whether users can create their own accounts (commonly named 'allowuserd' or similar).
    Affected if Self-registration is enabled and the Bugzilla version is in the affected range listed above.
  3. Inspect the email field validation during account creation
    Attempt to access the account creation page (typically /createaccount.cgi or similar). Examine whether the email input field accepts special characters like apostrophes without sanitization or error.
    Affected if The email field accepts an apostrophe without filtering, escaping, or rejecting it as invalid input.
  4. Check for SQL injection indicators in web server logs
    Review web server access and error logs for unusual SQL syntax patterns in email-related requests, particularly strings containing apostrophes followed by SQL keywords near account creation endpoints.
    Affected if Logs contain SQL injection attempt patterns in email parameters targeting account creation functionality.

You are affected if your Bugzilla version is 2.14.x, 2.16, or earlier and the self-service account creation feature is enabled.

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 Bugzilla to version 2.16.1 or later. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, implement input validation to filter or escape special characters (particularly apostrophes) in the email address field during account creation as a temporary workaround.

Fix this in Bugzilla Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2002-1198 — 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-2002-1198 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