Personal PrivacyApplication · Pgp

CVE-2002-2069

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2002-12-31
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 7.1.1 or later.
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
PGP 6.x and 7.x does not clear Windows alternate data streams that are attached to files on NTFS file systems, which allows attackers to recover sensitive information that was supposed to be deleted.

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

PGP 6.x and 7.x fails to clear Windows Alternate Data Streams (ADS) when securely deleting files on NTFS volumes. ADS allow additional hidden data to be attached to files, and when PGP deletes a file, the ADS content may persist on disk, enabling recovery of sensitive information that users believed was securely erased.

MitigationUpgrade to a patched version of PGP that properly clears alternate data streams during secure deletion, or implement compensating controls such as manual ADS removal tools before file deletion.

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
Personal PrivacyApplication
Affected:>= 6.0.2, <= 6.5.8>= 7.0, <= 7.1.1

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
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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 PGP version
    Check the Windows registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\PGP Corporation\PGP or look at the program's version information in Add/Remove Programs or the PGP application itself
    Affected if The version falls within 6.0.2 to 6.5.8 or 7.0 to 7.1.1 (inclusive)
  2. Confirm NTFS file system usage
    Run 'fsutil fsinfo volumeinfo C:' (or other drive letters) to check if the drives where PGP secure delete is used are formatted as NTFS
    Affected if NTFS is in use; the vulnerability only affects NTFS volumes, not FAT or other filesystems
  3. Verify secure delete feature is configured
    Check PGP preferences or settings for secure wipe/secure delete options being enabled, or review if automated wiping policies are active
    Affected if Secure delete or wipe features are turned on in PGP settings
  4. Test for residual ADS after secure deletion
    After using PGP secure delete on a file with an ADS (create a test file with notepad test.txt:hiddendata, then secure delete it, then run 'dir /r' or 'streams' utility to check for lingering ADS)
    Affected if Alternate Data Streams persist after PGP claims to have securely deleted the file

You are affected if PGP version is between 6.0.2-6.5.8 or 7.0-7.1.1, you use NTFS volumes, and the secure delete feature is enabled, with ADS remaining after deletion.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 7.1.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to a patched version of PGP that properly clears alternate data streams during secure deletion, or implement compensating controls such as manual ADS removal tools before file deletion.

Fix this in Personal Privacy Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2002-2069 — 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-2002-2069 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