CVE-2009-2577
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 9.52 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU and memory consumption, and application hang) via a long Unicode string argument to the write method, a related issue to CVE-2009-2479.
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 confidenceIn Opera 9.52 and earlier, a remote attacker can cause a denial of service by passing an excessively long Unicode string to the write method, leading to uncontrolled CPU and memory consumption and application hang. This is a resource exhaustion DoS related to CVE-2009-2479.
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<= 9.52= 7.0= 7.23= 7.53= 7.54= 7.60= 8.0= 8.01= 8.02= 8.50= 8.51= 8.52CVSS 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.
-
Check Opera browser versionOpen Opera, go to Help > About Opera, or right-click the opera.exe file and select Properties > Details to view the version numberAffected if The version listed is 9.52 or earlier, or matches exactly 7.0, 7.23, 7.53, 7.54, 7.60, 8.0, 8.01, 8.02, 8.50, 8.51, or 8.52
-
Confirm Opera uses the legacy Presto engineIn affected versions (pre-12), Opera used the Presto rendering engine. Check if the browser interface matches pre-Opera 12 characteristics (single-window design, Presto-based UI)Affected if The installed Opera is a Presto-based version (pre-12) and matches the vulnerable version range
-
Identify if JavaScript document.write is accessibleThe vulnerability is triggered by passing an excessively long Unicode string to the write method. Visit any webpage and use the developer console to verify document.write() is functionalAffected if JavaScript is enabled and document.write() method executes without errors, allowing the vulnerable code path to be triggered
If Opera version is 9.52 or earlier, or exactly matches any of the listed legacy versions (7.x or 8.x), and JavaScript is enabled, the browser is affected by this resource exhaustion vulnerability.
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 a version newer than 9.52, or migrate to a modern Chromium-based Opera release (15+) which is not affected by this legacy Presto-engine vulnerability.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,424.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2009-2577 — 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-2009-2577 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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.
- 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