CVE-2000-0141 in Ultimate Bulletin Board
Summary
by MITRE
Infopop Ultimate Bulletin Board (UBB) allows remote attackers to execute commands via shell metacharacters in the topic hidden field.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/20/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2000-0141 affects the Infopop Ultimate Bulletin Board (UBB) software, which was a popular web-based forum application in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This security flaw represents a classic command injection vulnerability that allowed remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands on the affected system. The vulnerability specifically resides in the handling of the topic hidden field parameter within the bulletin board's web interface, where insufficient input validation permitted malicious users to inject shell metacharacters that would be processed by the underlying operating system.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from improper sanitization of user input within the UBB application's topic creation functionality. When users submitted new topics through the web interface, the application would process the hidden field parameter without adequate filtering or escaping of special shell characters such as semicolons, ampersands, or backticks. This lack of input validation created a direct pathway for command injection attacks where attackers could append malicious commands to the topic field that would be executed by the server's shell environment. The vulnerability essentially allowed an attacker to bypass normal application security controls and execute arbitrary system commands with the privileges of the web server process.
The operational impact of this vulnerability was significant and far-reaching for organizations running affected UBB installations. Remote attackers could exploit this flaw to gain unauthorized access to the underlying server, potentially leading to complete system compromise, data exfiltration, or service disruption. The vulnerability was particularly dangerous because it required no authentication to exploit, making it a severe threat to any organization with publicly accessible UBB forums. Attackers could use this vulnerability to install backdoors, modify forum content, steal user credentials, or launch further attacks against internal network resources. The ease of exploitation meant that any organization with an unpatched UBB installation was immediately at risk of compromise.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should have implemented immediate mitigations including applying the vendor-provided security patches, implementing proper input validation and sanitization measures, and restricting access to forum administrative functions. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-77 which describes improper neutralization of special elements used in a command, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for command and scripting interpreter. Security practitioners should have deployed web application firewalls to filter malicious input patterns, conducted thorough security assessments of all web applications, and ensured proper access controls were in place to limit the impact of such vulnerabilities. Additionally, regular security updates and vulnerability management processes should have been implemented to prevent similar issues in the future, as this vulnerability demonstrated the critical importance of proper input validation in web applications.