view-source CGI Program Arbitrary File Read
Severe, but no confirmed exploitation yet. Schedule remediation in your next patch cycle and apply mitigations if you're exposed.
An unauthenticated attacker, remotely over the network, can cause limited impact to confidentiality and integrity.
The view-source CGI program allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via a .. (dot dot) attack.
Inferred from the weakness type (CWE) and how the flaw is reached — the techniques an attacker would chain to exploit this. Real-world corroboration appears here as threat intel is folded in.
Generated by Wavense from the CVE record — an immediate mitigation and the permanent fix.
As an interim measure, restrict direct access to the 'view-source' CGI script using web server access controls (e.g., .htaccess or server-level configurations). Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to detect and block known directory traversal patterns in requests targeting CGI applications. Continuously monitor web server access logs for unusual activity or attempts to access file paths outside of expected directories.
The permanent resolution involves updating or replacing the vulnerable 'view-source' CGI program with a secure, patched version provided by the software vendor. If an updated version is unavailable, it is strongly recommended to disable or remove the 'view-source' CGI program entirely to eliminate the attack vector. Ensure all web server configurations explicitly prevent directory traversal in URLs for all CGI or web applications.
Remote attackers can exploit this vulnerability to read arbitrary files on the server. This allows access to sensitive system configuration files, user data, or application source code, potentially leading to information disclosure, further system compromise, or privacy breaches.
No CWE classification has been assigned.
Other CVEs affecting communicator
Netscape Communicator before 4.77 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary Javascript via a GIF image whose comment contains the Javascript.
Buffer overflow in the HTML parser for Netscape 4.75 and earlier allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a long password value in a form field.
Netscape Communicator does not properly prevent a ServerSocket object from being created by untrusted entities, which allows remote attackers to create a server on the victim's system via a malicious applet, as demonstrated by Brown Orifice.
Buffer overflow in Netscape Navigator/Communicator 4.7 for Windows 95 and Windows 98 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service, and possibly execute arbitrary commands, via a long argument after the ? character in a URL that references an .asp, .cgi, .html, or .pl file.
Netscape Communicator 4.04 through 4.7 (and possibly other versions) in various UNIX operating systems converts the 0x8b character to a "<" sign, and the 0x9b character to a ">" sign, which could allow remote attackers to attack other clients via cross-site scripting (CSS) in CGI programs that do not filter these characters.
The byte code verifier component of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) allows remote execution through malicious web pages.