CVE-2002-0665 in JRun
Summary
by MITRE
Macromedia JRun Administration Server allows remote attackers to bypass authentication on the login form via an extra slash (/) in the URL.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/14/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2002-0665 resides within the Macromedia JRun Administration Server, a Java-based application server that was widely used for deploying enterprise web applications during the early 2000s. This authentication bypass flaw represents a classic path traversal issue that exploits how the server processes URL requests and validates user credentials. The vulnerability specifically manifests when an attacker manipulates the URL structure by inserting an additional forward slash character, which causes the authentication mechanism to fail in properly validating the user session.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability stems from improper input validation within the JRun Administration Server's URL parsing logic. When a user attempts to access the administration console, the server should validate whether the user has proper authentication credentials before granting access. However, the presence of an extra slash in the URL path allows the system to incorrectly process the request, effectively bypassing the authentication checks that should normally be enforced. This occurs because the server's internal path resolution mechanism fails to properly normalize the URL, creating a condition where the authentication layer becomes circumvented through simple URL manipulation.
From an operational standpoint, this vulnerability presents a significant security risk to organizations relying on JRun for their web application deployments. Attackers can gain unauthorized access to the administration console without requiring valid credentials, which provides them with full control over the application server configuration, deployment management, and potentially access to sensitive backend systems. The impact extends beyond simple unauthorized access as administrators may be able to modify application settings, deploy malicious code, or extract confidential data from the server environment. This vulnerability directly aligns with CWE-22 Path Traversal and CWE-287 Improper Authentication categories, representing a failure in proper input sanitization and authentication flow implementation.
The attack vector for this vulnerability is particularly straightforward, requiring only basic web browser manipulation to append an extra slash to the URL path. This makes it highly exploitable and dangerous in environments where the administration server is accessible over the network. Security professionals should note that this vulnerability represents a fundamental flaw in the server's request handling mechanism that could potentially affect similar applications with comparable URL parsing implementations. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including network segmentation to isolate administration interfaces, implementing proper access controls, and ensuring that all affected systems are updated with patches from Macromedia or migrated to more modern application server platforms. The vulnerability also demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and the potential consequences of failing to normalize URL paths in web applications, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1078 Valid Accounts and T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application.