CVE-2006-0866
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 · uneditedPunBB 1.2.10 and earlier allows remote attackers to conduct brute force guessing attacks for an account's password, which may be as short as 4 characters.
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 confidencePunBB 1.2.10 and earlier contains a vulnerability where remote attackers can conduct brute force guessing attacks against user account passwords. The vulnerability is exacerbated by the system's acceptance of passwords as short as 4 characters, significantly reducing the entropy and making password cracking computationally feasible.
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= 1.0= 1.0.1= 1.0_alpha= 1.0_beta1= 1.0_beta1a= 1.0_beta2= 1.0_beta3= 1.0_rc1= 1.0_rc2= 1.1= 1.1.1= 1.1.2CVSS 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
- 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 installed PunBB versionLocate the version file or check the admin control panel for the current PunBB version number. Common locations include a version.php file or the footer of admin pages.Affected if The installed version is 1.2.10 or earlier, or falls within the 1.0.x through 1.1.2.1 range listed in affected versions.
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Check minimum password length settingAccess the PunBB admin panel and navigate to the User settings or Registration settings section. Look for a configuration option controlling minimum password length.Affected if The minimum password length is set to 4 characters or less, which reduces password entropy and makes brute force attacks feasible.
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Verify account lockout policyInspect the PunBB administration settings for any account lockout, account suspension, or failed login attempt protections.Affected if No account lockout mechanism is configured after a defined number of failed login attempts.
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Check for login rate limitingReview the web server configuration (Apache/Nginx) or PunBB settings for any rate limiting on the login endpoint (login.php).Affected if No rate limiting or throttling is implemented on login attempts, allowing unlimited rapid password guessing.
You are affected if your PunBB version is 1.2.10 or earlier and either the minimum password length is set to 4 or less OR no brute force protections (account lockout or rate limiting) are configured on the login functionality.
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 dataUpgrade to a patched version of PunBB and enforce a stronger password policy requiring minimum password lengths greater than 4 characters. Consider implementing account lockout mechanisms or rate limiting on login endpoints to further mitigate brute force attacks.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 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 $3,088.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2006-0866 — 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-2006-0866 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data