CVE-2003-0466

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

This critical-severity CVE scores 9.8 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 78% (99th percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs). GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).

Triggered by: NVD CVSS baseline
Sources: epss, nvd
Weaponized
9.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPatch this weekExploitation is likely or a public exploit exists.
  • High exploitation likelihood — EPSS 78%
  • Public exploit code is available (Exploit-DB (verified), epss top5pct, epss high, public exploit)
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 78%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: Exploit-DB (verified) · epss top5pct · epss high · public exploitExposed services: Not assessed

A fix is available — apply it.

Off-by-one error in the fb_realpath() function, as derived from the realpath function in BSD, may allow attackers to execute arbitrary code, as demonstrated in wu-ftpd 2.5.0 through 2.6.2 via commands that cause pathnames of length MAXPATHLEN+1 to trigger a buffer overflow, including (1) STOR, (2) RETR, (3) APPE, (4) DELE, (5) MKD, (6) RMD, (7) STOU, or (8) RNTO.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8CRITICALmedium confidence
EG Risk
80
EG Risk 80/100CISA SSVC

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity98% × 45%
Exploitation78% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
CISA SSVC: Track at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.
Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high.
EPSS PROB
78%
EPSS %ILE
99th
KEV
Not listed

CISA SSVCTrack at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.

A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high.

Exploitation public PoC (EG-KEV: weaponized) · Automatable unknown (not published for this CVE) · Technical impact total (CVSS ≥ 9.0). Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it: high means the affected system is essential to your organisation's mission, or its compromise could cause irreversible harm to people. CISA's decision table

Published

August 27, 2003

Last Modified

June 16, 2026

Advisory Details (7)

Auto-updated Oct 1, 2026
Patch available.
generic

'Off-by-one Buffer Overflow Vulnerability in BSD libc realpath(3)' - MARC

http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=106002488209129&w=2
generic

'wu-ftpd-2.6.2 off-by-one remote exploit.' - MARC

http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=106001702232325&w=2
generic

'FreeBSD Security Advisory FreeBSD-SA-03:08.realpath' - MARC

http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=106001410028809&w=2
generic

'wu-ftpd fb_realpath() off-by-one bug' - MARC

http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=105967301604815&w=2
generic
http://isec.pl/vulnerabilities/isec-0011-wu-ftpd.txt
generic

Secunia Research & Vulnerability Insights | Flexera

http://secunia.com/advisories/9446
generic

Secunia Research & Vulnerability Insights | Flexera

http://secunia.com/advisories/9423

Patch Availability(2)

Vendor / EcosystemFix (by version range) / PatchReleasedSource
redhatpatch2003-07-31redhat
redhatpatch2003-07-31redhat

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Affected Packages

(1 across 1 ecosystem)
Debian:3.0(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
wu-ftpd—
  • every version up to 2.6.2-3woody1: fixed in 2.6.2-3woody1
—

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

All Vendor Advisories

(2)

Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 1× in last 7d / 4× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-10-03 14:19 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-09-29 02:38 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-09-12 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-09-10 09:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-07-24 14:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-07-23 00:45 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-07-23 00:26 UTCEG score recompute
  8. 2026-07-22 23:49 UTCEG score recompute
  9. 2026-07-22 21:30 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-07-20 17:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-07-11 08:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-07-11 08:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-07-08 15:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-07-02 14:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-29 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-06-29 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-06-28 04:52 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-06-23 21:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-06-21 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-06-18 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-18 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-16 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-06-16 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-15 17:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-13 22:56 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 36 more
  1. 2026-06-12 23:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-06-10 22:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-06-07 15:21 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-06-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-06-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-06-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-06-05 22:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-05 22:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-06-02 20:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-05-31 00:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-05-31 00:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-05-20 22:36 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-05-20 07:56 UTCVendor advisory
  19. 2026-05-20 07:56 UTCGHSA enrichment
  20. 2026-05-20 03:39 UTCVendor advisory
  21. 2026-05-20 03:39 UTCGHSA enrichment
  22. 2026-05-19 23:26 UTCVendor advisory
  23. 2026-05-19 23:26 UTCGHSA enrichment
  24. 2026-05-19 19:11 UTCVendor advisory
  25. 2026-05-19 19:11 UTCGHSA enrichment
  26. 2026-05-19 14:57 UTCVendor advisory
  27. 2026-05-19 14:57 UTCGHSA enrichment
  28. 2026-05-19 10:38 UTCVendor advisory
  29. 2026-05-19 10:38 UTCGHSA enrichment
  30. 2026-05-19 06:14 UTCVendor advisory
  31. 2026-05-19 06:13 UTCGHSA enrichment
  32. 2026-05-19 02:01 UTCEG score recompute
  33. 2026-05-19 02:01 UTCVendor advisory
  34. 2026-05-19 02:01 UTCGHSA enrichment
  35. 2026-05-18 21:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  36. 2026-05-18 21:29 UTCEPSS rescore

Publicly available exploits

(5 references)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (5 Exploit-DB entries). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • Exploit-DBEDB-78✓ verified
    First seen Aug 11, 2003

    WU-FTPD 2.6.2 - Remote Command Execution

    Open source ↗
  • Exploit-DBEDB-22975✓ verified
    First seen Aug 6, 2003

    WU-FTPD 2.6.0/2.6.1/2.6.2 - 'realpath()' Off-by-One Buffer Overflow

    Open source ↗
  • Exploit-DBEDB-74✓ verified
    First seen Aug 3, 2003

    WU-FTPD 2.6.2 - Off-by-One Remote Command Execution

    Open source ↗
  • Exploit-DBEDB-22974✓ verified
    First seen Aug 2, 2003

    WU-FTPD 2.6.2 - 'realpath()' Off-by-One Buffer Overflow

    Open source ↗
  • Exploit-DBEDB-22976✓ verified
    First seen Jul 31, 2003

    FreeBSD 4.8 - 'realpath()' Off-by-One Buffer Overflow

    Open source ↗

Related CVEs(same product + same CWE)

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2003-0466?
CVE-2003-0466 is a critical vulnerability published on August 27, 2003. Off-by-one error in the fb_realpath() function, as derived from the realpath function in BSD, may allow attackers to execute arbitrary code, as demonstrated in wu-ftpd 2.5.0 through 2.6.2 via commands that cause pathnames of length MAXPATHLEN+1 to trigger a buffer overflow, including (1) STOR, (2)…
When was CVE-2003-0466 disclosed?
CVE-2003-0466 was first published on August 27, 2003, with the most recent update on June 16, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2003-0466 actively exploited?
CVE-2003-0466 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. EchelonGraph's EG-KEV model classifies it as weaponized: a functional public exploit exists. FIRST EPSS estimates a 78% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (99th percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs).
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2003-0466?
CVE-2003-0466 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2003-0466?
A fix for CVE-2003-0466 is available: update to the fixed version the vendor names in its advisory.

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