Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian
CVE-2015-0885
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 · uneditedcheckpw 1.02 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop) via a -- (dash dash) in a username.
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 checkpw password checking utility versions 1.02 and earlier contains a parsing vulnerability where a username containing '--' (double dash) triggers an infinite loop, causing a denial of service. The '--' sequence is likely being interpreted as a command-line option delimiter, causing the application to enter an unhandled parsing state.
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
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 7.0<= 1.02CVSS 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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Identify if checkpw is installedCheck for the presence of the checkpw binary using 'which checkpw' or search for it in common locations like /usr/bin/checkpw, /usr/local/bin/checkpw, or by listing package contents if installed via package manager (e.g., dpkg -l checkpw on Debian)Affected if checkpw is found on the system and was installed from the affected product versions
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Determine the installed checkpw versionRun 'checkpw --version' or 'checkpw -V' if supported, or query the package manager: 'dpkg -l | grep checkpw' on Debian systems, or 'rpm -qi checkpw' on RPM-based systemsAffected if The version is 1.02 or earlier, or the version cannot be determined (unknown versions should be treated as potentially vulnerable)
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Identify the operating system versionRun 'cat /etc/os-release' or 'lsb_release -a' to determine the Debian version, or check the specific Debian release with 'cat /etc/debian_version'Affected if The system is Debian 7.0 (Wheezy) with checkpw installed from the default repositories
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Verify if user input containing '--' is processedReview the application configuration or logs to determine if checkpw processes usernames from untrusted input sources (such as web forms, authentication prompts, or network requests). Check configuration files in /etc/checkpw/ or examine how checkpw is invoked in authentication scriptsAffected if checkpw processes usernames from external or untrusted sources without prior validation that rejects '--' characters
A system is affected if checkpw version 1.02 or earlier is installed and it processes usernames from any input source, as the '--' character sequence in a username will trigger the infinite loop 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 checkpw to a version newer than 1.02, or implement input validation to reject usernames containing '--' as a workaround until patching can be completed.
Fix this in Debian Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 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 $1,664.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-0885 — 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-2015-0885 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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