CVE-2011-3169
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 · uneditedUnspecified vulnerability in the SMTP service implementation in HP TCP/IP Services 5.6 and 5.7 for OpenVMS allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service 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 confidenceA vulnerability in the SMTP service implementation in HP TCP/IP Services versions 5.6 and 5.7 for OpenVMS allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via unspecified vectors. The exact nature of the flaw is not disclosed, but it is exploitable remotely against the SMTP daemon.
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= 5.6= 5.7CVSS 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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Verify HP TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS is installedUse the OpenVMS PRODUCT SHOW command or check system files for HP TCP/IP Services installationAffected if HP TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS is not present, then the vulnerability does not apply
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Determine the installed version of HP TCP/IP ServicesRun PRODUCT SHOW PRODUCT/VERSION or similar command to list installed HP TCP/IP Services versionAffected if Version is 5.6 or 5.7, as these are the affected versions listed
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Confirm SMTP service is enabled and runningCheck the TCP/IP services configuration and process status for the SMTP daemonAffected if SMTP daemon is active and listening on network ports, making it exploitable remotely
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Verify network exposure of SMTP portUse NETSTAT or similar tool to confirm if port 25 is bound to network interfaces accessible from remote systemsAffected if SMTP port 25 is exposed to untrusted networks, increasing exploitability
User is affected if HP TCP/IP Services version 5.6 or 5.7 for OpenVMS is installed with SMTP service enabled and accessible over the network.
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 dataApply HP patches for HP TCP/IP Services 5.6/5.7 for OpenVMS when available, or upgrade to a patched version. If no patch is available, consider network segmentation to limit SMTP exposure or disable the service if not required.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2011-3169 — 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-2011-3169 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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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