PhorumApplication

CVE-2004-2243

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2004-12-31
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
Phorum allows remote attackers to hijack sessions of other users by stealing and replaying the session hash in the phorum_uriauth parameter, as demonstrated using profile.php. NOTE: the affected version was reported to be 4.3.7, but this may be erroneous.

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

Phorum contains a session hijacking vulnerability where attackers can steal session hashes from the phorum_uriauth parameter and replay them to impersonate other users. The flaw is demonstrated in profile.php, allowing remote attackers to hijack user sessions and gain unauthorized access to accounts.

MitigationImplement proper session token generation with cryptographically random values, add session validation mechanisms (such as IP binding or token rotation), and ensure sessions are invalidated after use to prevent replay attacks.

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
PhorumApplication
Affected:= 4.3.7

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. Confirm Phorum installation
    Locate Phorum by searching for core files like index.php, common.php, or a directory named 'phorum' in your web root.
    Affected if Phorum is not present on the system, the vulnerability does not apply.
  2. Identify Phorum version
    Check the installed Phorum version by looking at version.php, a VERSION file, or within the administrative interface under system information.
    Affected if The installed version is 4.3.7, indicating the specific affected version.
  3. Locate profile.php
    Find the profile.php file within the Phorum installation directory, typically in the root or a scripts subdirectory.
    Affected if profile.php is absent, the demonstrated attack vector does not exist.
  4. Inspect session parameter handling
    Examine the source code of profile.php and related session handling files for usage of the phorum_uriauth parameter without proper validation or regeneration.
    Affected if Code accepts and uses session hashes from the phorum_uriauth parameter without cryptographic validation or rotation.
  5. Verify session security controls
    Review session management code for mechanisms such as IP binding, token rotation, or cryptographically random session ID generation.
    Affected if No session validation mechanisms exist, leaving sessions vulnerable to replay attacks.

Your environment is affected if Phorum 4.3.7 is installed and the profile.php file processes phorum_uriauth parameters without cryptographic session validation or replay protection.

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 session token generation with cryptographically random values, add session validation mechanisms (such as IP binding or token rotation), and ensure sessions are invalidated after use to prevent replay attacks.

Fix this in Phorum Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
17.0 hours of engineering $3,000
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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-2004-2243 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
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