CVE-2008-4698
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 · uneditedOpera before 9.61 does not properly block scripts during preview of a news feed, which allows remote attackers to create arbitrary new feed subscriptions and read the contents of arbitrary feeds.
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 confidenceOpera before 9.61 fails to properly block scripts when previewing news feeds (RSS/Atom), allowing malicious feed content to execute scripts. This enables attackers to subscribe users to arbitrary feeds and exfiltrate feed contents by leveraging the trusted context of the feed preview functionality.
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<= 9.60= 5.0= 5.02= 5.10= 5.11= 5.12= 6.0= 6.1= 6.01= 6.02= 6.03= 6.04CVSS 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
- None
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/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.
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Identify installed Opera versionIn Opera, go to Help > About Opera or access opera:about in the address bar. Alternatively, run 'opera -version' from command line if available.Affected if The displayed version is 9.60 or earlier, or matches any of these: 5.0, 5.02, 5.10, 5.11, 5.12, 6.0, 6.1, 6.01, 6.02, 6.03, 6.04, or any version through 9.60.
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Locate Opera executable version on WindowsRight-click the Opera shortcut or executable, select Properties, and check the Details tab for file version. Alternatively, right-click opera.exe > Properties > Version tab.Affected if The file version shown corresponds to an affected release (versions listed above).
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Verify feed preview functionality existsIn Opera, try to add an RSS/Atom feed (look for the orange RSS icon in the address bar when visiting a feed-enabled site) and then attempt to use the preview panel or bookmark the feed. On older Opera versions, check for the Live Bookmarks or Feed panel feature.Affected if The feed preview or subscription feature is present and functional in the installed Opera version.
You are affected if your installed Opera version is 9.60 or earlier (or matches any of the specific versions 5.0 through 6.04) AND you use the RSS/Atom feed preview or subscription 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 Opera to version 9.61 or later, or migrate to an alternative browser if updates are unavailable.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-4698 — 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-2008-4698 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