CVE-2009-5131
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 Receive Service in Websense Email Security before 7.1 does not recognize domain extensions in the blacklist, which allows remote attackers to bypass intended access restrictions and send e-mail messages via an SMTP session.
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 Receive Service in Websense Email Security before version 7.1 failed to properly parse and recognize domain extensions (e.g., .com, .org variants) within its blacklist configuration. This allowed remote attackers to bypass intended email filtering restrictions by sending messages through domain extensions not properly matched by the blacklist, enabling unauthorized SMTP relay.
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<= 7.0= 6.1CVSS 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
- Partial
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/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 Websense Email Security installationLocate Websense Email Security on the system or check installed programs for 'Websense Email Security' or 'Websense' email-related componentsAffected if The product is installed and is version 7.0 or earlier (including version 6.1)
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Determine installed versionCheck the installed version of Websense Email Security through system inventory, installed software list, or product-specific command/interfaceAffected if The version is 7.0 or lower, or specifically version 6.1
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Locate blacklist configuration in Receive ServiceAccess the Websense Email Security administration console or configuration files to locate the Receive Service blacklist settingsAffected if A blacklist is configured for domain extension filtering
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Verify domain extension handling in blacklistReview the blacklist entries to see if domain extensions (such as .com, .org, .net, or country-code variants) are listed or configured as patternsAffected if The blacklist contains domain extensions but they may not be properly matched by the vulnerable parsing logic
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Confirm relay configuration allows external messagesCheck SMTP relay or Receive Service settings to determine if the server accepts external email connections for relayAffected if SMTP relay is enabled and the blacklist is the primary filtering control for domain extensions
A user is affected if Websense Email Security version 7.0 or earlier (including 6.1) is installed with a blacklist configured for domain extension filtering, as the parsing flaw allows bypass of these filters.
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 Websense Email Security to version 7.1 or later where the blacklist properly recognizes and filters domain extensions. Alternatively, implement supplementary email gateway controls or explicit whitelist policies.
- 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-2009-5131 — 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-2009-5131 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