CVE-2008-0153
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 · uneditedtelnetd.exe in Pragma TelnetServer 7.0.4.589 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (process crash and resource exhaustion) via a crafted TELOPT PRAGMA LOGON telnet option, which triggers a NULL pointer dereference.
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 confidenceThe telnet daemon (telnetd.exe) in Pragma TelnetServer version 7.0.4.589 contains a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability when processing a specially crafted TELOPT PRAGMA LOGON telnet option. Remote attackers can send malformed telnet negotiation data that causes the process to crash, leading to denial of service through process termination and potential resource exhaustion from repeated crashes.
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= 7.0.4.589CVSS 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
- None
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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 Pragma TelnetServer is installedCheck for the presence of telnetd.exe in the Pragma Systems installation directory, typically under C:\Program Files\Pragma TelnetServer\ or look for Pragma TelnetServer in Add/Remove ProgramsAffected if The software is installed and the executable file telnetd.exe exists on the system
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Confirm the exact version numberRight-click on telnetd.exe, select Properties, then look at the Version tab to find the Product Version, or run: telnetd.exe -v or check the Windows registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Pragma Systems\TelnetServer for the Version valueAffected if The version is exactly 7.0.4.589 - other versions are not affected by this specific CVE
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Check if telnet service is runningOpen Services console (services.msc) and look for 'Pragma TelnetServer' service, or run: net start | findstr -i telnetAffected if The telnet service is currently running and accepting connections - only running instances can be crashed
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Verify PRAGMA LOGON option handling is enabledCheck telnetd.exe configuration files or registry settings for PRAGMA LOGON telnet option processing, typically found in the server configuration or logging settingsAffected if The PRAGMA LOGON telnet option negotiation is enabled in the server configuration
A system is affected only if Pragma TelnetServer version 7.0.4.589 is installed, the telnet service is running, and the PRAGMA LOGON telnet option is enabled - this specific version with these conditions allows remote attackers to crash the service via malformed TELOPT negotiation.
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 Pragma TelnetServer to a patched version if available, or implement network-level filtering to restrict telnet access to trusted hosts only. Consider migrating to more secure remote access protocols (SSH) if feasible.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-0153 — 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-2008-0153 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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