# CVE-1999-1073: Weak cryptography in n/a

> Excite for Web Servers leaks password prefixes in encrypted hashes, facilitating brute-force attacks and potential account takeover.

- **Severity:** High 7.2 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 12 Sep 2001
- **Updated:** 1 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-mgjr-rmj6-j3qr

## What is CVE-1999-1073?

CVE-1999-1073 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 12 Sep 2001. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Excite for Web Servers (EWS) 1.1 records the first two characters of a plaintext password in the beginning of the encrypted password, which makes it easier for an attacker to guess passwords via a brute force or dictionary attack.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-1999-1073?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Excite Ews.

## How do I fix CVE-1999-1073?

No fix has been published for CVE-1999-1073 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-1999-1073 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-1999-1073 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-1999-0279](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-0279/): Command injection in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-1999-1071](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-1071/): Misconfiguration in n/a (high 7.2)
- [CVE-1999-1072](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-1072/): Information disclosure in n/a (high 7.2)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-1999-1073 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-1999-1073 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 12 Sep 2001. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-1999-1073 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-1073/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-1073/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-1999-1073
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-1999-1073
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-1999-1073

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-1073/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.