CVE-2003-0645

MEDIUMCVSS v2 · 4.64.6—
EchelonGraph scoreLOW confidence

This CVE was only ever scored under CVSS v2.0. NVD CVSS v2.0 base 4.6 — v2 rates that MEDIUM (v2 bands: LOW 0.0–3.9 / MEDIUM 4.0–6.9 / HIGH 7.0–10.0; v2 has no CRITICAL band). Vector AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P. CVSS v2 is an older, coarser metric than v3.1/v4.0 (no Scope, no User Interaction, no Attack Requirements), so it is not directly comparable to a v3 or v4 score. NVD has never re-scored this record under v3. EPSS predicts 0.7% exploitation probability in the next 30 days, which is reflected in EG Risk but does not lift the v2 base. Confidence: LOW.

Triggered by: NVD CVSS v2.0 (legacy fallback)
Sources: epss, nvd_v2
Weaponized
4.6EG
EchelonGraph verdictMonitorLow exploitation likelihood right now — keep watching.
  • Lower severity and no public exploit yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0.7%CVSS v2: 4.6Exploit: Exploit-DB (verified) · public exploitExposed services: Not assessed

A fix is available — apply it.

man-db 2.3.12 and 2.3.18 to 2.4.1 uses certain user-controlled DEFINE directives from the ~/.manpath file, even when running setuid, which could allow local users to gain privileges.

CVSS v2.0 (legacy)
4.6MEDIUMNVD never assigned a CVSS v3 rating to this CVE
EG Score
4.6MEDIUMlow confidence
EG Risk
51
EG Risk 51/100CISA 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
Severity46% × 45%
Exploitation65% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
CISA SSVC: Track at low, Track or Track* at medium and Track* or 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
0.7%
EPSS %ILE
53rd
KEV
Not listed

CISA SSVCTrack at low, Track or Track* at medium and Track* or 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 unknown (not published for this CVE). 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

References (8)

Affected Packages

(5 across 5 ecosystems)
Debian:11(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
man-db—
  • every version up to 2.4.1-13: fixed in 2.4.1-13
—
Debian:12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
man-db—
  • every version up to 2.4.1-13: fixed in 2.4.1-13
—
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
man-db—
  • every version up to 2.4.1-13: fixed in 2.4.1-13
—
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
man-db—
  • every version up to 2.4.1-13: fixed in 2.4.1-13
—
Debian:3.0(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
man-db—
  • every version up to 2.3.20-18.woody.2: fixed in 2.3.20-18.woody.2
—

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 7× in last 7d / 11× 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. 2026-10-10 19:53 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-10-09 19:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-10-08 16:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-10-07 23:35 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-10-06 15:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-10-05 21:55 UTCOSV refresh
  7. 2026-10-05 17:36 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-10-03 14:19 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-09-29 02:38 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-09-16 04:57 UTCOSV refresh
  11. 2026-09-12 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-09-10 09:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-08-30 01:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-08-28 03:17 UTCOSV refresh
  15. 2026-08-11 16:45 UTCOSV refresh
  16. 2026-07-26 17:17 UTCOSV refresh
  17. 2026-07-26 13:23 UTCEG score recompute▲ 4.60
  18. 2026-07-25 14:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-07-24 14:11 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-07-23 00:45 UTCEG score recompute
  21. 2026-07-23 00:26 UTCEG score recompute
  22. 2026-07-22 23:49 UTCEG score recompute
  23. 2026-07-22 21:30 UTCEG score recompute
  24. 2026-07-20 17:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-07-19 14:25 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 74 more
  1. 2026-07-18 09:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-18 09:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-16 16:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-07-15 01:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-07-15 01:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-07-13 06:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-07-11 08:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-07-11 08:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-07-09 11:15 UTCOSV refresh
  10. 2026-07-08 15:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-07-06 02:19 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-07-04 06:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-07-02 14:00 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-06-29 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-29 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-06-28 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-06-28 04:52 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-06-27 03:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-06-23 21:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-06-22 14:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-21 14:52 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-21 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-06-20 23:42 UTCOSV refresh
  24. 2026-06-19 19:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-19 19:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-06-18 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-06-18 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  28. 2026-06-17 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-06-17 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-06-16 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-06-16 17:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  32. 2026-06-15 17:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  33. 2026-06-14 23:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  34. 2026-06-14 23:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  35. 2026-06-13 22:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  36. 2026-06-12 23:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  37. 2026-06-11 13:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  38. 2026-06-10 22:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  39. 2026-06-10 13:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  40. 2026-06-08 14:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  41. 2026-06-07 15:21 UTCEPSS rescore
  42. 2026-06-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  43. 2026-06-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  44. 2026-06-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  45. 2026-06-05 22:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  46. 2026-06-05 22:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  47. 2026-06-05 06:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  48. 2026-06-04 13:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  49. 2026-06-02 20:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  50. 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  51. 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  52. 2026-05-31 22:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  53. 2026-05-31 17:21 UTCEG score recompute
  54. 2026-05-31 17:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
  55. 2026-05-31 00:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  56. 2026-05-31 00:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  57. 2026-05-29 13:40 UTCEPSS rescore
  58. 2026-05-29 13:40 UTCEPSS rescore
  59. 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  60. 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  61. 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  62. 2026-05-27 22:05 UTCOSV refresh
  63. 2026-05-27 13:37 UTCEPSS rescore
  64. 2026-05-26 13:41 UTCEPSS rescore
  65. 2026-05-26 13:41 UTCEPSS rescore
  66. 2026-05-26 07:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  67. 2026-05-26 07:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  68. 2026-05-24 16:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  69. 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  70. 2026-05-20 22:36 UTCEPSS rescore
  71. 2026-05-20 11:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  72. 2026-05-20 11:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  73. 2026-05-18 21:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  74. 2026-05-18 21:29 UTCEPSS rescore

Publicly available exploits

(1 reference)

Public exploit code is referenced for this CVE (1 Exploit-DB entry). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly.

  • Exploit-DBEDB-75✓ verified
    Published Aug 6, 2003

    man-db 2.4.1 - 'open_cat_stream()' Local uid=man

    Open source ↗

Related CVEs(same product)

Same product

3 shown

Debian:3.0:man-db · Debian:11:man-db

Frequently asked(4)

What is CVE-2003-0645?
CVE-2003-0645 is a medium vulnerability published on August 27, 2003. man-db 2.3.12 and 2.3.18 to 2.4.1 uses certain user-controlled DEFINE directives from the ~/.manpath file, even when running setuid, which could allow local users to gain privileges.
When was CVE-2003-0645 disclosed?
CVE-2003-0645 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-2003-0645 actively exploited?
CVE-2003-0645 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 0.7% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (53rd percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs).
How do I remediate CVE-2003-0645?
A fix for CVE-2003-0645 is available: update to the fixed version the vendor names in its advisory.

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