dbcve.org
VbulletinApplication · Jelsoft

CVE-2003-0295

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2003-06-16
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
77/100
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
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in private.php for vBulletin 3.0.0 Beta 2 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script and HTML via the "Preview Message" capability.

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

Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in vBulletin 3.0.0 Beta 2's private.php allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary JavaScript/HTML through the Preview Message feature due to insufficient input sanitization.

MitigationSanitize all user input in the Preview Message functionality using HTML encoding/escaping, or migrate to a supported version of vBulletin as this beta release is severely outdated.

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
VbulletinApplication
Affected:= 3.0.0_beta_2

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
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:M/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 if vBulletin is installed
    Look for vBulletin installation directories or check your web server for /vb/ or /forum/ paths containing vBulletin files. Check the version.php file typically found in the includes/ directory.
    Affected if vBulletin software is present on the server
  2. Check the exact vBulletin version
    Open the version.php file in the includes/ directory, or log into the vBulletin admin control panel and navigate to System Information or Version section.
    Affected if The version reported is 3.0.0_beta_2 exactly
  3. Locate the private.php file
    Search the vBulletin installation directory for the private.php file, typically found in the root or forum directory.
    Affected if private.php exists in the vBulletin installation
  4. Verify the Preview Message feature is accessible
    Attempt to access the private messaging section (usually /private.php) and check if the Preview functionality is available to regular users.
    Affected if The private messaging Preview feature is enabled and accessible to users

You are affected if vBulletin 3.0.0 Beta 2 is installed and the private.php file with its Preview Message feature is accessible on your server.

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

Sanitize all user input in the Preview Message functionality using HTML encoding/escaping, or migrate to a supported version of vBulletin as this beta release is severely outdated.

Fix this in Vbulletin Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2003-0295 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2003-0295 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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.

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