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Up2dateApplication · Redhat

CVE-2003-0546

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2003-08-27
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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
up2date 3.0.7 and 3.1.23 does not properly verify RPM GPG signatures, which could allow remote attackers to cause unsigned packages to be installed from the Red Hat Network, if that network is compromised.

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 · moderate confidence

up2date versions 3.0.7 and 3.1.23 fail to properly verify RPM GPG signatures, allowing unsigned or improperly signed packages to be installed from the Red Hat Network if that network is compromised.

MitigationEnsure GPG signature verification is properly enforced in up2date; verify all packages have valid signatures before installation.

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
Up2dateApplication
Affected:= 3.0.7-1= 3.1.23-1

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
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/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. Determine if up2date is installed
    Run: rpm -q up2date
    Affected if The package is not installed, then the system is not affected by this specific vulnerability.
  2. Check the installed up2date version
    Run: rpm -qa | grep up2date to see the exact version including release number
    Affected if The version matches exactly 3.0.7-1 or 3.1.23-1, the system has the vulnerable version.
  3. Inspect up2date configuration for GPG verification settings
    Examine /etc/up2date.conf and look for parameters such as 'gpgcheck' or 'repoGPGCheck' and their values (0=disabled, 1=enabled)
    Affected if GPG verification is disabled (set to 0) or not explicitly enabled in the configuration.
  4. Verify current GPG signature enforcement behavior
    Run: up2date --nox --show-channels (if available) or inspect /etc/sysconfig/rhn/up2date for additional settings
    Affected if The configuration does not enforce GPG signature validation for packages from Red Hat Network.

A system is affected if it runs up2date version 3.0.7-1 or 3.1.23-1 AND has GPG signature verification disabled or not properly enforced in the up2date configuration.

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

Ensure GPG signature verification is properly enforced in up2date; verify all packages have valid signatures before installation.

Fix this in Up2date Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,800
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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-2003-0546 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