CVE-2005-3316
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 · uneditedThe installation of ON Symantec Discovery 4.5.x and Symantec Discovery 6.0 creates the (1) DiscoveryWeb and (2) DiscoveryRO database accounts with null passwords, which could allow attackers to gain privileges or prevent Discovery from running by setting another password.
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 confidenceSymantec Discovery 4.5.x and 6.0 installer creates two database accounts (DiscoveryWeb and DiscoveryRO) with null/empty passwords by default. This default credential vulnerability allows unauthorized attackers to gain database privileges or cause denial of service by changing the account passwords.
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= 6.0= standard_4.5= web_4.5CVSS 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.
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Verify product installation and versionIdentify if Symantec Discovery or Symantec On Command Discovery is installed. Check the installed version against the affected ranges: 6.0, standard_4.5, or web_4.5.Affected if The installed version matches 6.0, 4.5 standard, or 4.5 web.
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Locate the database used by DiscoveryExamine the Discovery configuration files or registry entries to identify the database type (Sybase, MS SQL, or Oracle) and connection parameters. Look for database connection strings or service configurations.Affected if The database is configured and accessible.
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Identify database accounts DiscoveryWeb and DiscoveryROConnect to the Discovery database using administrative credentials and query for user accounts. Look for user entries named DiscoveryWeb and DiscoveryRO in the database user tables.Affected if Both DiscoveryWeb and DiscoveryRO accounts exist in the database.
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Check account password statusAttempt to authenticate to the database using DiscoveryWeb and DiscoveryRO accounts with empty/null passwords, or query the database user password status fields if accessible.Affected if Authentication succeeds with empty password or password fields are null/empty.
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Verify account privilegesOnce authenticated with these accounts, query the account privileges or roles to confirm the access level granted to DiscoveryWeb and DiscoveryRO.Affected if The accounts have elevated database privileges (such as db_owner, read-write access).
The environment is affected if Symantec Discovery 6.0 or On Command Discovery 4.5 is installed and the DiscoveryWeb or DiscoveryRO database accounts exist with empty or null passwords.
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 dataImmediately assign strong, unique passwords to the DiscoveryWeb and DiscoveryRO database accounts, or disable these accounts if unused. Update any configuration files referencing these credentials to reflect the new passwords.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2005-3316 — 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-2005-3316 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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