dbcve.org
SafariWeb browser · Apple

CVE-2003-0355

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2003-06-09
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Safari 1.0 Beta 2 (v73) and earlier does not validate the Common Name (CN) field for X.509 Certificates, which could allow remote attackers to spoof certificates.

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

Safari 1.0 Beta 2 (v73) and earlier fails to validate the Common Name (CN) field in X.509 certificates, allowing attackers to present fraudulent certificates that appear trusted for legitimate sites.

MitigationUpgrade to a newer version of Safari that properly validates the CN field and performs full certificate chain verification.

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
SafariWeb browser
Affected:= 1.0
Konqueror EmbeddedApplication
Affected:all versions

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check Safari version on macOS
    Open Safari, go to Safari > About Safari, or check the application bundle info at /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info.plist for CFBundleShortVersionString
    Affected if Version is 1.0 or earlier (Beta 2 v73 and earlier)
  2. Check for Safari on Windows
    Check the file version of Safari.exe in the installation directory, typically C:\Program Files\Safari\Safari.exe, using right-click > Properties > Details
    Affected if Version is 1.0 or earlier (Beta 2 v73 and earlier)
  3. Identify if KDE Konqueror Embedded is installed
    Check for the presence of konqueror or embeddedkonqueror binaries in system paths, or look for KDE environment installations that include Konqueror
    Affected if Konqueror Embedded is present (all versions are affected)
  4. Verify certificate validation behavior
    Attempt to access a test site with a certificate where the CN field does not match the hostname, observing whether Safari or Konqueror accepts the connection without warning
    Affected if The browser accepts certificates with mismatched CN fields without displaying security warnings

You are affected if running Safari version 1.0 or earlier, or any version of KDE Konqueror Embedded, and the browser accepts certificates where the CN field does not match the requested hostname.

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 to a newer version of Safari that properly validates the CN field and performs full certificate chain verification.

Fix this in Safari Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
4.0 hours of engineering $750
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2003-0355 — 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-2003-0355 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