CVE-2009-3114
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 RSS reader widget in IBM Lotus Notes 8.0 and 8.5 saves items from an RSS feed as local HTML documents, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary script in Internet Explorer's Local Machine Zone via a crafted feed, aka SPR RGAU7RDJ9K.
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 RSS reader widget in IBM Lotus Notes 8.0 and 8.5 saves items from RSS feeds as local HTML documents without sanitization. A remote attacker can craft a malicious RSS feed containing arbitrary script that will execute in Internet Explorer's Local Machine Zone when the saved HTML document is opened, achieving script execution with elevated privileges.
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= 8.5CVSS 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
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/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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Check installed Lotus Notes versionOpen Lotus Notes and navigate to Help > About IBM Lotus Notes, or check the program's version information through the Windows installed programs list. Look for version 8.0 or 8.5.Affected if The installed version is 8.0 or 8.5.
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Locate the RSS reader widgetOpen the Lotus Notes client and look for the RSS Reader widget or feed functionality in the sidebar or widget panel. Check if the RSS Reader is listed among available widgets or bookmarked items.Affected if The RSS reader widget is present and accessible in the Lotus Notes interface.
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Determine if RSS feeds have been addedOpen the RSS reader widget if present, and check the feed list to see if any RSS feeds have been configured and subscribed to.Affected if One or more RSS feeds are subscribed to in the RSS reader.
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Check for saved RSS HTML documentsSearch the local file system for HTML files that may have been saved by the RSS reader. Common locations include the Lotus Notes data directory or user documents folder. Look for recently created HTML files originating from RSS feed items.Affected if HTML documents saved by the RSS reader exist on the local system.
A user is affected if they have Lotus Notes version 8.0 or 8.5 installed with the RSS reader widget enabled and have subscribed to at least one RSS feed, as this creates the conditions for the unsanitized HTML document saving vulnerability to be exploitable.
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 dataDisable or remove the RSS reader widget functionality in affected Lotus Notes installations. If RSS functionality is required, ensure feeds only come from trusted sources and consider upgrading to a patched version of Lotus Notes.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 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-2009-3114 — 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-2009-3114 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