# CVE-2009-2732: Null dereference in n/a

> Remote attackers can crash the ntop daemon by sending a malformed HTTP Authorization header, causing a denial of service.

- **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:** 20 Aug 2009
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-h3h4-v8x5-4h4j

## What is CVE-2009-2732?

CVE-2009-2732 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 20 Aug 2009. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The checkHTTPpassword function in http.c in ntop 3.3.10 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and daemon crash) via an Authorization HTTP header that lacks a : (colon) character in the base64-decoded string.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2009-2732?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Ntop Ntop.

## How do I fix CVE-2009-2732?

No fix has been published for CVE-2009-2732 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2009-2732 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2009-2732 exists.

Public exploit code:

- ntop 3.3.10 - HTTP Basic Authentication Null Pointer Dereference Denial of Service (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2014-4165](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-4165/): Cross-site scripting in n/a (medium 4.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2009-2732 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2009-2732 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 20 Aug 2009. 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-2009-2732 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-2009-2732/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-2732/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2009-2732
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2009-2732
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2009-2732

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-2732/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.