CVE-2009-2732
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 · uneditedThe checkHTTPpassword function in http.c in ntop 3.3.10 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and daemon crash) via an Authorization HTTP header that lacks a : (colon) character in the base64-decoded string.
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 confidenceThe checkHTTPpassword function in http.c in ntop 3.3.10 and earlier fails to properly validate the Authorization HTTP header. When the base64-decoded string lacks a colon character, the function attempts to dereference a NULL pointer, causing the ntop daemon to crash.
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<= 3.3.10CVSS 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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Confirm ntop is installedRun 'ntop -V' or 'ntop --version' to display the ntop version informationAffected if The version displayed is 3.3.10 or earlier
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Verify ntop daemon is runningCheck running processes with 'ps aux | grep ntop' or 'pgrep ntop' to confirm the ntop daemon is activeAffected if ntop daemon is running on a vulnerable version
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Confirm HTTP web interface is enabledCheck ntop configuration files (typically /etc/ntop.conf or /etc/ntop/ntop.conf) for web interface settings, or inspect if ntop is listening on HTTP ports (typically 3000) using 'netstat -an | grep 3000' or 'ss -tlnp | grep 3000'Affected if The HTTP web interface is enabled and accessible (default port 3000)
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Check if HTTP authentication is configuredReview ntop configuration for password/protection settings, typically found in /etc/ntop.conf or by examining '--http-password' or similar options in the running processAffected if HTTP authentication is enabled, which triggers the vulnerable checkHTTPpassword function during Authorization header processing
A user is affected if ntop version 3.3.10 or earlier is running with its HTTP web interface enabled, as the vulnerability lies in the Authorization header processing path of the checkHTTPpassword function.
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 a patched version of ntop if available, or add input validation to verify the presence of a colon character in the base64-decoded Authorization header before processing.
- Consultation1.0 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-2009-2732 — 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-2009-2732 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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