CVE-2003-1389
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 · uneditedRTS CryptoBuddy 1.2 and earlier truncates long passphrases without warning the user, which may make it easier to conduct certain brute force guessing attacks.
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 confidenceRTS CryptoBuddy 1.2 and earlier silently truncates long passphrases without user warning, reducing the effective entropy of the passphrase and making brute force attacks more feasible by limiting the actual key space used for encryption.
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= 1.0= 1.2CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate CryptoBuddy installationSearch for 'cryptobuddy.exe' or check Program Files for a 'Research Triangle Software' or 'Cryptobuddy' directoryAffected if CryptoBuddy executable is found on the system
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Determine installed versionRight-click the executable, select Properties, and view the Version tab; or launch the application and check Help > AboutAffected if Version is 1.0, 1.2, or any version numbered at or below 1.2
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Verify encryption feature usageCheck if users are using the encryption functionality with passphrase-based keysAffected if The application is actively used to encrypt files or data using passphrases
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Assess passphrase length in useReview any documentation, configurations, or user practices regarding passphrase length settings within CryptoBuddyAffected if Long passphrases (beyond typical short passwords) are being used for encryption
The user is affected if CryptoBuddy version 1.0 or 1.2 (or earlier) is installed and used for passphrase-based encryption, where long passphrases may be silently truncated by the software.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUsers should be aware that passphrases may be effectively limited in length; consider using the maximum practical passphrase length and ensure the product vendor has addressed this limitation in later versions, or evaluate alternative encryption solutions.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2003-1389 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2003-1389 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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