SquirrelMail up to 1.2.5 Cookie THEME privileges management

CVSS Meta Temp Score
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Current Exploit Price (≈)
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CTI Interest Score
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8.9$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability categorized as critical has been discovered in SquirrelMail up to 1.2.5. This issue affects some unknown processing of the component Cookie Handler. Such manipulation of the argument THEME leads to privileges management. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2002-0516. Moreover, an exploit is present.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in SquirrelMail up to 1.2.5 (Mail Client Software) and classified as very critical. Affected by this issue is an unknown functionality of the component Cookie Handler. The manipulation of the argument THEME with an unknown input leads to a privileges management vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-269. The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

SquirrelMail 1.2.5 and earlier allows authenticated SquirrelMail users to execute arbitrary commands by modifying the THEME variable in a cookie.

The bug was discovered 03/28/2002. The weakness was disclosed 08/12/2002 by pokleyzz sakamaniaka (Website). The advisory is shared for download at archives.neohapsis.com. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2002-0516. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. No form of authentication is required for exploitation. Technical details as well as a public exploit are known. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD (estimation calculated on 09/16/2025). The MITRE ATT&CK project declares the attack technique as T1068.

The exploit is available at securityfocus.com. It is declared as proof-of-concept. The vulnerability was handled as a non-public zero-day exploit for at least 137 days. During that time the estimated underground price was around $0-$5k. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 10539 (SquirrelMail Theme Remote Command Execution Vulnerability).

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product. Attack attempts may be identified with Snort ID 1737.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at X-Force (8671), Exploit-DB (21358), SecurityFocus (BID 4385†), OSVDB (5272†) and Vulnerability Center (SBV-6601†). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

Name

Version

License

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 9.8
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 8.9

VulDB Base Score: 9.8
VulDB Temp Score: 8.9
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
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VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Privileges management
CWE: CWE-269 / CWE-266
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Access: Public
Status: Proof-of-Concept
Download: 🔍

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

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Qualys ID: 🔍
Qualys Name: 🔍

Exploit-DB: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: no mitigation known
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔍
Snort ID: 1737
Snort Message: SERVER-WEBAPP squirrel mail theme arbitrary command attempt
Snort Class: 🔍
SourceFire IPS: 🔍

Timelineinfo

03/28/2002 🔍
03/28/2002 +0 days 🔍
03/28/2002 +0 days 🔍
08/12/2002 +137 days 🔍
08/12/2002 +0 days 🔍
12/21/2004 +862 days 🔍
07/22/2014 +3500 days 🔍
09/16/2025 +4074 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Advisory: archives.neohapsis.com
Researcher: pokleyzz sakamaniaka
Status: Not defined

CVE: CVE-2002-0516 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2002-0516
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-18572
X-Force: 8671
SecurityFocus: 4385 - SquirrelMail Theme Remote Command Execution Vulnerability
OSVDB: 5272 - SquirrelMail - Theme - Remote Command Execution Vulnerability
Vulnerability Center: 6601 - Code Execution in SquirrelMail <= 1.2.5 via THEME Variable, Medium

scip Labs: https://www.scip.ch/en/?labs.20161013

Entryinfo

Created: 07/22/2014 22:20
Updated: 09/16/2025 13:13
Changes: 07/22/2014 22:20 (65), 06/04/2019 00:12 (4), 01/29/2025 23:49 (21), 09/16/2025 13:13 (3)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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