GroupwiseApplication · Novell

CVE-2009-0272

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2009-02-02
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Novell GroupWise WebAccess 6.5x, 7.0, 7.01, 7.02x, 7.03, 7.03HP1a, and 8.0 allows remote attackers to insert e-mail forwarding rules, and modify unspecified other configuration settings, as arbitrary users via unknown vectors.

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 confidence

Novell GroupWise WebAccess contains a cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability that allows remote attackers to inject e-mail forwarding rules and modify configuration settings by tricking authenticated users into visiting malicious pages. The vulnerability affects versions 6.5x through 8.0, exploiting the lack of anti-CSRF tokens or proper request validation in the WebAccess interface.

MitigationApply vendor patches from Novell for GroupWise WebAccess. Until patched, organizations can mitigate CSRF risks by enforcing SameSite cookie attributes, implementing anti-CSRF tokens in web forms, and using referrer validation for sensitive requests.

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
GroupwiseApplication
Affected:= 6.5= 7.0= 7.01= 7.02x= 7.03= 8.0

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify GroupWise WebAccess version
    Access the WebAccess login page or admin interface and locate the version information typically displayed in the footer, About section, or system information page. Alternatively, check the GroupWise administration console for installed WebAccess component version.
    Affected if The displayed version matches any of these: 6.5, 7.0, 7.01, 7.02x, 7.03, or 8.0
  2. Confirm WebAccess web interface is enabled
    Verify that the WebAccess service is running and the web interface is accessible by attempting to reach the WebAccess URL (typically /gw/webacc on the GroupWise server).
    Affected if The WebAccess interface is accessible and responds, and the version falls within the affected range from step 1
  3. Check for anti-CSRF token presence in WebAccess forms
    Log into WebAccess as a valid user, then view the HTML source of sensitive forms (such as email rules, forwarding settings, or configuration pages). Search for hidden input fields containing random token values, or check if forms include token-based validation in the request headers.
    Affected if The forms lack anti-CSRF tokens or random validation values, and the version is within the affected range
  4. Inspect session cookie attributes
    After authenticating to WebAccess, use browser developer tools to inspect the session cookies. Check if the cookies include the SameSite attribute set to Strict or Lax, or include the Secure flag.
    Affected if The cookies lack SameSite and Secure attributes, the version is affected, and sensitive actions can be performed without additional validation

A user is affected if GroupWise WebAccess is running version 6.5, 7.0, 7.01, 7.02x, 7.03, or 8.0 with the web interface accessible and no anti-CSRF protections detected in the forms.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply vendor patches from Novell for GroupWise WebAccess. Until patched, organizations can mitigate CSRF risks by enforcing SameSite cookie attributes, implementing anti-CSRF tokens in web forms, and using referrer validation for sensitive requests.

Fix this in Groupwise Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
25.0 hours of engineering $4,400
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2009-0272 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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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