CVE-2002-1203
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 · uneditedIBM SecureWay Firewall before 4.2.2 performs extra processing before determining that a packet is invalid and dropping it, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (resource exhaustion) via a flood of malformed TCP packets without any flags set.
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 confidenceIBM SecureWay Firewall versions prior to 4.2.2 perform excessive processing on incoming malformed TCP packets (those with no flags set) before validating and dropping them. This allows remote attackers to exhaust firewall resources by flooding it with these crafted packets, causing denial of service.
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= 4.2= 4.2.1CVSS 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 IBM SecureWay Firewall is installedIdentify the installed firewall product - this vulnerability applies specifically to IBM SecureWay Firewall, not other firewall products. Use system inventory or installed software list to verify the product name.Affected if The product is not IBM SecureWay Firewall (different products are not affected by this CVE)
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Check installed versionLocate and examine the installed version of IBM SecureWay Firewall. This is typically found in the firewall's about, version info, or system settings. Compare your version against the affected versions: 4.2 and 4.2.1.Affected if Version is 4.2 or 4.2.1 (version 4.2.2 and later are not affected)
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Verify network exposure to the firewallDetermine whether the firewall is directly exposed to incoming network traffic from untrusted sources. This vulnerability is triggered by malformed TCP packets (packets with no flags set) sent to the firewall from an external network.Affected if The firewall has direct exposure to untrusted/network-facing interfaces (if the firewall only processes trusted/internal traffic, the attack surface is reduced)
If IBM SecureWay Firewall version 4.2 or 4.2.1 is installed AND the firewall is network-facing and can receive untrusted TCP traffic, the environment is affected by this vulnerability.
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 IBM SecureWay Firewall version 4.2.2 or later, which addresses the improper packet handling. Alternatively, implement upstream filtering or ACLs to drop malformed TCP packets (those with no flags) before they reach the firewall.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2002-1203 — 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-2002-1203 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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