CVE-2005-4341
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 · uneditedBlackboard Learning and Community Portal System in Academic Suite 6.3.1.424, 6.2.3.23, and other versions before 6 allows remote attackers to list all available categories via a blank category_id parameter to category.pl. NOTE: it is not clear whether this information is sensitive or not, so this might not be an exposure.
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 confidenceThis is an information disclosure vulnerability in Blackboard Learning and Community Portal System. Attackers can list all available categories by sending a blank category_id parameter to the category.pl script. The CVSS of 5 indicates this is a moderate-severity issue, though the original note questions whether the exposed information is actually sensitive.
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 dataall versions= 6.2.3.23= 6.3.1.424CVSS 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
- None
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N
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 Blackboard Academic Suite is installedCheck your system for Blackboard installation directories or consult your software inventory for 'Blackboard Academic Suite' or 'Blackboard' entriesAffected if Blackboard Academic Suite version 6.x is found on the system
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Determine the installed Blackboard versionLook for version information in Blackboard configuration files, admin panels, or About pages within the Blackboard applicationAffected if The installed version is 6.2.3.23, 6.3.1.424, or any 6.x version of Blackboard Academic Suite
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Locate the category.pl scriptSearch web server directories for the category.pl script, typically found in Blackboard web application paths such as /webapps/ or similar web-accessible directoriesAffected if The category.pl script exists and is accessible via the web server
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Test the vulnerable parameterSend an HTTP request to category.pl with an empty or blank category_id parameter (e.g., category.pl?category_id=)Affected if The script returns a list of available categories or exposes category information without proper authentication or validation
A user is affected if they are running any 6.x version of Blackboard Academic Suite with the category.pl script accessible via the web and the blank category_id parameter returns category information.
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 dataSince this affects very old Blackboard versions (6.x), the primary remediation is upgrading to a supported version. If upgrading is not feasible, network-level restrictions limiting access to category.pl should be considered.
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- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2005-4341 — 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-2005-4341 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