DrupalCMS
CVE-2005-1871
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 · uneditedUnknown vulnerability in the privilege system in Drupal 4.4.0 through 4.6.0, when public registration is enabled, allows remote attackers to gain privileges, due to an "input check" that "is not implemented properly."
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 confidenceIn Drupal 4.4.0-4.6.0, an improperly implemented input validation check in the privilege system allows remote attackers to gain elevated privileges when public user registration is enabled. The vulnerability stems from the privilege system's failure to properly validate user input during the registration process, enabling authentication bypass or privilege escalation.
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
DrupalCMS
= 4.4.0= 4.4.1= 4.4.2= 4.5.0= 4.5.1= 4.5.2= 4.6.0CVSS 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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Identify the installed Drupal versionExamine the version.php file in the Drupal root directory, or check the footer of any Drupal admin page, or run: grep -r 'VERSION' includes/bootstrap.inc 2>/dev/null | head -5Affected if The version number is 4.4.0, 4.4.1, 4.4.2, 4.5.0, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, or 4.6.0
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Determine if public user registration is enabledLog in as an administrator and navigate to Administer > User management > User settings, or query the variables table in the Drupal database for user_register = 1Affected if Public registration is allowed (user_register variable equals 1)
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Review user accounts for unauthorized administratorsNavigate to Administer > User management > Users, or query the users_roles table in the database for role ID 1 (administrator role)Affected if There are administrator accounts you did not create or do not recognize
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Audit recent user registrations for suspicious activityCheck the users table for accounts created around May 2005 or recently, focusing on accounts with elevated roles or unusual usernamesAffected if New user accounts exist that you did not create, particularly with administrative privileges
You are affected if your Drupal version is 4.4.0 through 4.6.0 AND public user registration is enabled, regardless of whether you see evidence of exploitation.
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 Drupal to a patched version beyond 4.6.0, or disable public user registration until a patch can be applied. If upgrading is not feasible, implement additional access controls on the registration endpoint.
Fix this in Drupal
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2005-1871 — 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-2005-1871 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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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.
- 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