CVE-2002-2397
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 · uneditedSygate personal firewall 5.0 could allow remote attackers to bypass firewall filters via spoofed (1) source IP address of 127.0.0.1 or (2) network address of 127.0.0.0.
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 confidenceSygate Personal Firewall 5.0 contains a flaw where it fails to properly validate the source IP address of incoming network packets. The firewall can be bypassed by attackers who spoof the source IP to appear as 127.0.0.1 (localhost) or any address in the 127.0.0.0/8 loopback range. Since the firewall trusts loopback addresses without verifying they originated from the local machine, remote attackers can bypass all firewall filtering rules and gain unauthorized access.
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= 5.0CVSS 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
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
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.
-
Verify if Sygate Personal Firewall 5.0 is installedCheck the system for Sygate Personal Firewall installation. On Windows, examine the program files directory for Sygate folder, or check the Windows Registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for an entry named 'Sygate Personal Firewall' or similar.Affected if The software is present and the version listed is 5.0 builds 1218 or below (the specific 5.0 release).
-
Confirm the exact version numberLocate the version information of the installed Sygate Personal Firewall. Right-click on the executable (typically sfw.exe in the Sygate installation folder) and select Properties, then view the Details tab for version info, or run the program and check About/Help menu.Affected if The displayed version is exactly 5.0.x (where x represents any 5.0 build).
-
Verify the firewall service is runningOpen Windows Services (services.msc) and look for 'Sygate Personal Firewall' service, or check the system tray for the Sygate icon indicating the firewall is active.Affected if The Sygate Personal Firewall service is running and actively filtering network traffic.
You are affected if Sygate Personal Firewall version 5.0 is installed and running on your system, as the firewall will trust any incoming packet with a 127.0.0.0/8 source address without validating it originated locally.
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 from Sygate Personal Firewall 5.0 to a current, supported firewall solution that properly validates that loopback addresses can only originate from the local interface, or implement network-level filtering to drop any inbound packets with source addresses in the 127.0.0.0/8 range at the perimeter.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,328.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2002-2397 — 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-2002-2397 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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.
- 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