CVE-2004-2689
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 · uneditedNewsPHP allows remote attackers to gain unauthorized administrative access by setting a cookie to the "autorized=admin; root=admin" value.
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 confidenceNewsPHP contains an authentication bypass vulnerability where remote attackers can gain administrative privileges by setting HTTP cookies to specific values ('autorized=admin; root=admin'). The application improperly trusts client-supplied cookie values for authorization decisions instead of validating credentials through proper authentication mechanisms.
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 dataall versionsCVSS 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
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if NewsPHP is installedSearch the web server for NewsPHP files. Common locations: /var/www/html/newsphp, /www/newsphp, or check for files containing 'newsphp' in name or header. Look for index.php or config files that reference 'newsphp' or 'NewsPH'Affected if NewsPHP software is present on the server
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Locate the authentication handling codeSearch the NewsPHP installation for PHP files that handle authentication or authorization. Look for files containing 'cookie', 'authorized', or 'root' in variable names. Common files: auth.php, login.php, session.php, or functions include filesAffected if Cookie-based authorization code exists in the application
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Check for vulnerable cookie handling logicInspect the authentication PHP files for code that reads cookie values like $_COOKIE['autorized'] or $_COOKIE['root'] and uses them directly for authorization decisions without server-side validationAffected if Code directly trusts cookie values 'autorized' or 'root' for authorization without proper server-side validation
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Verify if secure session validation is implementedCheck if the application uses server-side session mechanisms (PHP $_SESSION with proper session_start()) instead of client-supplied cookie values for determining admin privilegesAffected if The application relies on client-supplied cookies for admin access rather than server-validated sessions
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Test for the vulnerabilityUsing browser dev tools or curl, make a request to the NewsPHP admin area with cookies set to 'autorized=admin; root=admin'. Observe if unauthorized admin access is grantedAffected if Setting the cookies 'autorized=admin' and 'root=admin' grants administrative access
If NewsPHP is present and the application trusts client-supplied cookie values for authorization rather than using server-validated sessions, the environment is affected by this CVE.
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 dataUpgrade to a patched version of NewsPHP that implements proper server-side session validation and removes insecure cookie-based authorization logic, or replace with a currently supported news publishing system.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2004-2689 — 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-2004-2689 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
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