# CVE-2005-0256: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can cause CPU exhaustion and denial of service in wu-ftpd by sending glob patterns with excessive wildcard characters.

- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 25 Feb 2005
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DSA-705-1, GHSA-52rf-pfj9-676q

## What is CVE-2005-0256?

CVE-2005-0256 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 25 Feb 2005. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The wu_fnmatch function in wu_fnmatch.c in wu-ftpd 2.6.1 and 2.6.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU exhaustion by recursion) via a glob pattern with a large number of * (wildcard) characters, as demonstrated using the dir command.

Weakness: CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2005-0256?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Washington University Wu-Ftpd.

## How do I fix CVE-2005-0256?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2005-0256 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2005-0256 exists.

Public exploit code:

- WU-FTPD 2.6.2 - File Globbing Denial of Service (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2004-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-0185/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2001-0187](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2001-0187/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-1999-0080](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-0080/): Privilege escalation in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2003-1327](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-1327/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2003-1329](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-1329/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2005-0256 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2005-0256 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 25 Feb 2005. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2005-0256 exists.

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-2005-0256/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2005-0256/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2005-0256
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2005-0256
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2005-0256

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2005-0256/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.