Poppassd PamApplication · Gentoo

CVE-2005-0002

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2005-05-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.0 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
poppassd_pam 1.0 and earlier, when changing a user password, does not verify that the user entered the old password correctly, which allows remote attackers to change passwords for arbitrary users.

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

poppassd_pam versions 1.0 and earlier contain a flaw where the password change function fails to verify the user's old password before allowing a new password to be set. This allows unauthenticated remote attackers to change passwords for any user account on the system, effectively granting them full access to those accounts.

MitigationUpgrade poppassd_pam to a version that verifies the old password before accepting a new password, or implement proper PAM authentication checks in the password change routine.

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
Poppassd PamApplication
Affected:<= 1.0

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
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 checks

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

  1. Check if poppassd_pam is installed
    On Gentoo systems, run `emerge --search poppassd_pam` or check installed packages with `qlist -I | grep poppassd` or `dpkg -l | grep poppassd` if using a hybrid system
    Affected if poppassd_pam package is present on the system
  2. Determine installed version
    Run `emerge --info poppassd_pam` or check the package version with `qlist -Iv poppassd_pam`
    Affected if The installed version is 1.0 or earlier (check if version number is <= 1.0)
  3. Check if poppassd service is running and exposed
    Check running processes for poppassd with `ps aux | grep poppassd` and check network listeners with `netstat -tlnp | grep poppassd` or `ss -tlnp | grep poppassd`
    Affected if poppassd is actively running and listening on a network port (typically port 106)
  4. Verify password change behavior
    Test the password change function by attempting to change a user's password without providing the old password. Connect to the poppassd service and issue a PASSWD command without prior authentication or without providing the old password first
    Affected if The service allows password change without verifying the old password (accepts new password without prompting for current password)

A system is affected if poppassd_pam version 1.0 or earlier is installed and running, and the password change function can be exploited to set a new password without providing the current password.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 1.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade poppassd_pam to a version that verifies the old password before accepting a new password, or implement proper PAM authentication checks in the password change routine.

Fix this in Poppassd Pam Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,080
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,328.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2005-0002 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2005-0002 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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