CVE-2006-0201
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 · uneditedDave Nielsen and Patrick Breitenbach PayPal Web Services (aka PHP Toolkit) 0.50, and possibly earlier versions, allows remote attackers to enter false payment entries into the log file via HTTP POST requests to ipn_success.php.
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 confidenceThe PayPal PHP Toolkit 0.50 ipn_success.php script does not validate that incoming payment notifications actually originated from PayPal before logging them. Remote attackers can send crafted HTTP POST requests to inject false payment entries into the log file, potentially enabling fraud by misrepresenting payment status.
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<= 0.50CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/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.
-
Locate the PayPal PHP Toolkit installationSearch for the file ipn_success.php in your web directory, typically under paths like /paypal/, /ipn/, or within the toolkit directoryAffected if The ipn_success.php script exists on the server
-
Identify the toolkit versionCheck for a version file or inspect the header comments in ipn_success.php for the version numberAffected if The version is 0.50 or lower (or no version is found, suggesting an old installation)
-
Examine IPN validation in ipn_success.phpOpen ipn_success.php and search for code that calls PayPal to verify IPN (look for functions like fsockopen, curl, or URLs to paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr for verification)Affected if No code exists to verify the IPN with PayPal's server before logging payment data
-
Review the payment logging mechanismCheck the script for direct logging of $_POST or $_REQUEST data without validation (search for file_put_contents, fwrite, or similar file operations on log files)Affected if The script writes payment data to log files without authenticating the source
-
Check server access logsReview web server access logs for POST requests to ipn_success.php originating from IP addresses other than PayPal's verified IPs (23.33.112.0/22, 23.33.64.0/22, 66.211.0.0/16)Affected if POST requests to ipn_success.php are logged from non-PayPal sources
The environment is affected if the PayPal PHP Toolkit version 0.50 or lower is installed with ipn_success.php present and the script logs payment data without performing PayPal IPN verification.
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 proper PayPal IPN verification by validating the authenticity of payment notifications with PayPal's server before logging any payment entries, and add cryptographic verification of the PayPal response.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2006-0201 — 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-2006-0201 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