CVE-2005-2252
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 · uneditedPhpAuction 2.5 allows remote attackers to bypass authentication and gain privileges as another user by setting the PHPAUCTION_RM_ID cookie to the user ID.
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 confidencePhpAuction 2.5 contains an authentication bypass vulnerability where remote attackers can impersonate any user by setting the PHPAUCTION_RM_ID cookie to a target user ID, allowing privilege escalation without valid credentials.
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= 2.5CVSS 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.
-
Confirm PhpAuction installationLocate the version file or admin panel to identify the installed PhpAuction version. Check version.php, index.php headers, or the administration dashboard for version information.Affected if The installed version is exactly 2.5 (PhpAuction)
-
Search for PHPAUCTION_RM_ID cookie handlingSearch the application source code for the string 'PHPAUCTION_RM_ID' using grep or file search tools. Identify the files and code sections that process this cookie.Affected if The PHPAUCTION_RM_ID cookie is present and processed by the application code
-
Examine cookie-based user identification logicReview the code that handles PHPAUCTION_RM_ID. Look for the logic that reads this cookie value and uses it to set or modify the current user identity without verifying valid authentication credentials first.Affected if The application accepts the PHPAUCTION_RM_ID cookie value as the user identity without requiring proper session validation or credential verification
-
Check for missing authentication validationExamine whether the code that processes PHPAUCTION_RM_ID validates the claim against active session data, database user records, or other authentication mechanisms before allowing user impersonation.Affected if The code uses the PHPAUCTION_RM_ID value directly to identify the user without validating it against authenticated session state or requiring valid login credentials
Your environment is affected if you are running PhpAuction version 2.5 and the application accepts the PHPAUCTION_RM_ID cookie to determine user identity without validating against proper authentication credentials.
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 dataImplement server-side validation of the PHPAUCTION_RM_ID cookie against active session data and require proper authentication before accepting user identity claims from cookies.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation5.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $3,696.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2005-2252 — 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-2005-2252 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
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.
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