CVE-2008-0169
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 · uneditedPlugin/passwordauth.pm (aka the passwordauth plugin) in ikiwiki 1.34 through 2.47 allows remote attackers to bypass authentication, and login to any account for which an OpenID identity is configured and a password is not configured, by specifying an empty password during the login sequence.
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 passwordauth plugin in ikiwiki versions 1.34 through 2.47 contains an authentication bypass vulnerability. When a user account has an OpenID identity configured but lacks a password, the plugin accepts an empty password during login, allowing remote attackers to gain unauthorized access to those accounts.
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= 1.34= 1.34.1= 1.34.2= 1.35= 1.36= 1.37= 1.38= 1.39= 1.40= 1.41= 1.42CVSS 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
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:M/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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Determine installed ikiwiki versionRun 'ikiwiki --version' or check the package manager (dpkg -l ikiwiki, rpm -q ikiwiki)Affected if version is 1.34 through 2.47 (including point releases like 1.34.1, 1.34.2, etc.)
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Verify passwordauth plugin is enabledCheck the ikiwiki setup file (usually ~/.ikiwiki.yml or /etc/ikiwiki.yml) for 'passwordauth' in the list of enabled pluginsAffected if passwordauth plugin is listed in the 'plugins' configuration section
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Identify user accounts with OpenID but no passwordExamine user configuration files in the ikiwiki users directory (often under setup directory or /var/lib/ikiwiki) - look for user entries containing an 'openid' field but lacking a 'password' fieldAffected if any user account has an OpenID identity configured without a corresponding password entry
You are affected if ikiwiki version is between 1.34 and 2.47, the passwordauth plugin is enabled, and at least one user account has an OpenID identity without a password configured.
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 ikiwiki version 2.48 or later where this issue is patched. Alternatively, ensure all user accounts with OpenID identities also have passwords configured, or temporarily disable the passwordauth plugin until upgrade is possible.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-0169 — 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-2008-0169 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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