CVE-2005-3434
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 · uneditedArchilles Newsworld before 1.5.0-rc1 stores (1) account.nwd and (2) session.nwd under the web root with insufficient access control, which allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, hashed passwords, and session IDs, and gain privileges.
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 confidenceArchilles Newsworld before version 1.5.0-rc1 stores sensitive data files (account.nwd containing usernames and password hashes, session.nwd containing session IDs) under the web root with insufficient access controls. Remote attackers can directly request these files via HTTP to retrieve plaintext usernames, password hashes, and active session IDs, enabling 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<= 1.5.0_rc1= 1.3.1= 1.3.2CVSS 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 if Archilles Newsworld is installedSearch the web server document root for files named 'index.php', 'news.php', or directories containing 'newsworld' in the name. Also check for the presence of account.nwd or session.nwd files.Affected if The software is found in the web root directory structure.
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Determine the installed version of Archilles NewsworldLook for a version file (such as VERSION, version.php, or in the source code comments), or check the software's main PHP files for a version string like '1.5.0-rc1', '1.3.1', or '1.3.2'.Affected if The installed version is 1.5.0-rc1 or earlier, or specifically 1.3.1 or 1.3.2.
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Locate the account.nwd and session.nwd filesSearch the web document root directory tree for files named 'account.nwd' and 'session.nwd' using file system search commands like 'find' or by inspecting the data/ or config/ subdirectories.Affected if These files exist anywhere within the web-accessible directory.
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Verify file accessibility via HTTPAttempt to request http://[target]/account.nwd and http://[target]/session.nwd (or the full path if in a subdirectory) using a web browser or curl command. Check if the server returns the file contents with a 200 OK response.Affected if The files are served over HTTP and return file contents instead of being blocked or returning a 403/404.
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Inspect file contents for sensitive dataIf accessible, examine the returned file contents. The account.nwd file should contain usernames and password hashes; the session.nwd file should contain session identifiers.Affected if The files contain plaintext usernames, password hashes, or active session IDs that can be used for authentication bypass.
A user is affected if Archilles Newsworld version 1.5.0-rc1 or earlier is installed and the account.nwd or session.nwd files are accessible via direct HTTP requests from the web root.
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 dataMove the account.nwd and session.nwd files outside the web-accessible directory tree, or implement proper web server access controls (e.g., deny all HTTP GET requests) on these files. Alternatively, upgrade to version 1.5.0-rc1 or later if available.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2005-3434 — 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-2005-3434 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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