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Ultimate Bulletin BoardApplication · Infopop

CVE-2003-0587

MEDIUM · 6.9 CVSS v2.0 Published 2003-08-18
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
74/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 Infopop Ultimate Bulletin Board (UBB) 6.x allows remote authenticated users to execute arbitrary web script and gain administrative access via the "displayed name" attribute of the "ubber" cookie.

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

Infopop Ultimate Bulletin Board (UBB) 6.x is vulnerable to cross-site scripting (XSS) via the 'displayed name' attribute stored in the 'ubber' cookie. An authenticated remote user can inject malicious JavaScript through their displayed name, which executes when the cookie value is rendered without proper output encoding, potentially allowing session hijacking and administrative access.

MitigationImplement proper output encoding for cookie values before rendering them in web pages, and validate/sanitize user input for the displayed name field before storing in the cookie. Consider upgrading from this legacy software as UBB 6.x is no longer maintained.

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
Ultimate Bulletin BoardApplication
Affected:= 6

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
Local
Complexity
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:L/AC:M/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 checks

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

  1. Confirm Infopop UBB 6 installation
    Locate UBB installation files or check web server directories for 'ubb' or 'ultimate bulletin board' related paths. Look for version information in footer files, README, or admin panels.
    Affected if Infopop Ultimate Bulletin Board version 6.x is found on the system
  2. Verify the exact UBB version
    Access the admin control panel or check version files within the UBB installation directory. Compare the installed version against the affected range (version 6).
    Affected if The installed version is 6.0, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 6.7, or any other 6.x variant
  3. Identify if user authentication and displayed name feature is enabled
    Check if user registration and profile editing features are active. Verify that the 'displayed name' field is accessible in user profiles or registration forms.
    Affected if Users can register and set a displayed name in the UBB system
  4. Confirm the 'ubber' cookie is in use
    Log into the UBB forum as an authenticated user and inspect browser cookies. Look for a cookie named 'ubber' containing the user's displayed name value.
    Affected if An 'ubber' cookie exists and contains the user's displayed name value without encoding indicators
  5. Check for lack of output encoding in cookie rendering
    Examine UBB template files or script output for the 'ubber' cookie value. Look for direct insertion of cookie data into HTML without visible encoding functions (such as htmlspecialchars or equivalent).
    Affected if Cookie values are rendered directly in HTML pages without detectable output encoding

A user is affected if they run Infopop UBB version 6 with user authentication enabled, where the 'ubber' cookie stores the displayed name and this value is rendered in web pages without proper output encoding.

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

Implement proper output encoding for cookie values before rendering them in web pages, and validate/sanitize user input for the displayed name field before storing in the cookie. Consider upgrading from this legacy software as UBB 6.x is no longer maintained.

Fix this in Ultimate Bulletin Board Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,650
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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-2003-0587 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