# CVE-2003-1201: Null dereference in n/a

> Remote attackers can cause a denial of service in OpenLDAP by triggering a segmentation fault via an uninitialized pointer free in the passwd backend.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 10 May 2005
- **Updated:** 8 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-4q24-rv9c-m9wm

## What is CVE-2003-1201?

CVE-2003-1201 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Openldap Openldap, published on 10 May 2005. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

ldbm_back_exop_passwd in the back-ldbm backend in passwd.c for OpenLDAP 2.1.12 and earlier, when the slap_passwd_parse function does not return LDAP_SUCCESS, attempts to free an uninitialized pointer, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (segmentation fault).

Weakness: CWE-824 (Access of Uninitialized Pointer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2003-1201?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Openldap Openldap.

## How do I fix CVE-2003-1201?

No fix has been published for CVE-2003-1201 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2003-1201 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2003-1201 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Openldap Openldap

- [CVE-2015-3276](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3276/): Weak cryptography in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2002-1378](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-1378/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2002-1379](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-1379/): Code injection in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2002-0045](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-0045/): Missing authorization in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2005-4442](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2005-4442/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.2)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2003-1201 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2003-1201 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Openldap Openldap, published on 10 May 2005. 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-2003-1201 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Openldap Openldap. 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-2003-1201/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-1201/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2003-1201
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2003-1201
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2003-1201

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-1201/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.