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Db2 Universal DatabaseDatabase / datastore · Ibm

CVE-2003-0827

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2003-10-06
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
The DB2 Discovery Service for IBM DB2 before FixPak 10a allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a long packet to UDP port 523.

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

The IBM DB2 Discovery Service contains a vulnerability in how it handles incoming UDP packets on port 523. Sending a specially crafted oversized packet triggers a crash due to improper bounds checking or memory handling, causing a denial of service condition.

MitigationApply IBM DB2 FixPak 10a or later to patch the vulnerability. If the Discovery Service is not required in the environment, it can be disabled as a compensating control.

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
Db2 Universal DatabaseDatabase / datastore
Affected:= 7.1= 7.2

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
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. Identify DB2 installation and version
    Run 'db2level' command or check the DB2 installation directory for version information. On Windows, check the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\IBM\DB2\InstalledCopies. On Unix/Linux, check /opt/IBM/db2/version or use the 'db2pd -version' command.
    Affected if The installed version is DB2 Universal Database version 7.1 or 7.2
  2. Verify Discovery Service is enabled
    Run 'db2 get dbm cfg | grep -i discovery' to check the Discovery configuration parameters. Look for DISCOVER_DB and DISCOVER_MANAGER settings.
    Affected if DISCOVER_DB or DISCOVER_MANAGER is set to a value other than 'DISABLE' - the service is enabled and listening for discovery requests
  3. Confirm port 523 is listening
    Run 'netstat -an | grep 523' or 'ss -ulpn | grep 523' to check if UDP port 523 is bound and listening. On Windows, use 'netstat -an | findstr :523' or check via DB2 configuration with 'db2 get dbm cfg | grep SVCENAME'.
    Affected if Port 523 UDP is open and bound to the DB2 Discovery Service process

A system is affected if it runs DB2 Universal Database version 7.1 or 7.2 with the Discovery Service enabled and UDP port 523 listening for incoming packets.

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

Apply IBM DB2 FixPak 10a or later to patch the vulnerability. If the Discovery Service is not required in the environment, it can be disabled as a compensating control.

Fix this in Db2 Universal Database Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
23.0 hours of engineering $3,980
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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-2003-0827 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
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