// For flags

CVE-2005-3120

Lynx 2.8.6dev.13 - Remote Buffer Overflow (PoC)

Severity Score

9.8
*CVSS v3.1

Exploit Likelihood

*EPSS

Affected Versions

*CPE

Public Exploits

1
*Multiple Sources

Exploited in Wild

-
*KEV

Decision

-
*SSVC
Descriptions

Stack-based buffer overflow in the HTrjis function in Lynx 2.8.6 and earlier allows remote NNTP servers to execute arbitrary code via certain article headers containing Asian characters that cause Lynx to add extra escape (ESC) characters.

Ulf Harnhammar discovered a remote vulnerability in Lynx when connecting to a news server (NNTP). The function that added missing escape chararacters to article headers did not check the size of the target buffer. Specially crafted news entries could trigger a buffer overflow, which could be exploited to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user running lynx. In order to exploit this, the user is not even required to actively visit a news site with Lynx since a malicious HTML page could automatically redirect to an nntp:// URL with malicious news items.

*Credits: N/A
CVSS Scores
Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial
* Common Vulnerability Scoring System
SSVC
  • Decision:-
Exploitation
-
Automatable
-
Tech. Impact
-
* Organization's Worst-case Scenario
Timeline
  • 2005-10-03 CVE Reserved
  • 2005-10-17 CVE Published
  • 2016-06-07 First Exploit
  • 2024-08-07 CVE Updated
  • 2025-03-18 EPSS Updated
  • ---------- Exploited in Wild
  • ---------- KEV Due Date
CWE
  • CWE-131: Incorrect Calculation of Buffer Size
CAPEC
References (38)
URL Tag Source
http://secunia.com/advisories/17150 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17216 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17230 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17231 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17238 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17248 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17340 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17360 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17444 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17445 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17480 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/18376 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/18584 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/20383 Broken Link
http://securitytracker.com/id?1015065 Broken Link
http://support.avaya.com/elmodocs2/security/ASA-2006-010.htm Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/435689/30/4740/threaded Broken Link
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/15117 Broken Link
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=170253 Issue Tracking
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A9257 Broken Link
URL Date SRC
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/1256 2016-06-07
URL Date SRC
http://lists.grok.org.uk/pipermail/full-disclosure/2005-October/038019.html 2024-02-02
URL Date SRC
ftp://ftp.sco.com/pub/updates/OpenServer/SCOSA-2006.7/SCOSA-2006.7.txt 2024-02-02
ftp://ftp.sco.com/pub/updates/UnixWare/SCOSA-2005.47/SCOSA-2005.47.txt 2024-02-02
http://lists.trustix.org/pipermail/tsl-announce/2005-October/000354.html 2024-02-02
http://slackware.com/security/viewer.php?l=slackware-security&y=2005&m=slackware-security.423056 2024-02-02
http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-874 2024-02-02
http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-876 2024-02-02
http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1085 2024-02-02
http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200510-15.xml 2024-02-02
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDKSA-2005:186 2024-02-02
http://www.novell.com/linux/security/advisories/2005_25_sr.html 2024-02-02
http://www.openpkg.org/security/OpenPKG-SA-2005.026-lynx.html 2024-02-02
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2005-803.html 2024-02-02
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/419763/100/0/threaded 2024-02-02
https://usn.ubuntu.com/206-1 2024-02-02
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2005-3120 2005-10-17
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=170253 2005-10-17
Affected Vendors, Products, and Versions
Vendor Product Version Other Status
Vendor Product Version Other Status <-- --> Vendor Product Version Other Status
Invisible-island
Search vendor "Invisible-island"
 Lynx
Search vendor "Invisible-island" for product "Lynx"
 <= 2.8.6
Search vendor "Invisible-island" for product "Lynx" and version " <= 2.8.6"
-
Affected
Debian
Search vendor "Debian"
 Debian Linux
Search vendor "Debian" for product "Debian Linux"
 3.0
Search vendor "Debian" for product "Debian Linux" and version "3.0"
-
Affected
Debian
Search vendor "Debian"
 Debian Linux
Search vendor "Debian" for product "Debian Linux"
 3.1
Search vendor "Debian" for product "Debian Linux" and version "3.1"
-
Affected