CVE-2005-3120

Exp

Stack-based buffer overflow in the HTrjis function in Lynx 2.8.6 and earlier allows remote NNTP servers to execute arbitrary code via certain article headers containing Asian characters that cause Lynx to add extra escape (ESC) characters.

Published: 2005-10-17 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2005-3120 is rated High Exploit Risk (83.3/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 23.26%, 97th percentile). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2005-3120

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
1256 exploit_db edb 2005-10-17 Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2005-3120

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 30.44% 23.26% -7.18%
2 2025-03-17 5.13% 30.44% +25.31%
3 2024-12-17 — 5.13% —

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2005-3120

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 5.9 [email protected]
7.5 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 10.0 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2005-3120

OS Trackers for CVE-2005-3120

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2005-3120: no source package rows; 0 state rows across 0 repos (none); fixed 0, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2005-3120
debian high CVE-2005-3120 high priority: Debian including 1 source packages (lynx), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2005-3120
redhat critical — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2005-3120
ubuntu medium CVE-2005-3120 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (lynx, lynx-cur), 8 status rows across 4 suites (dapper, edgy, feisty, upstream): released 6, needs-triage 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2005-3120

Vendor comments (NVD) for CVE-2005-3120

  • Red Hat (2007-03-14T00:00:00)

    Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 is not vulnerable to this issue as it contains a backported patch.

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2005-3120

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
invisible-island lynx <= 2.8.6 cpe:2.3:a:invisible-island:lynx:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 3.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 3.1 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:3.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2005-3120

URL Tags
ftp://ftp.sco.com/pub/updates/OpenServer/SCOSA-2006.7/SCOSA-2006.7.txt Broken Link
ftp://ftp.sco.com/pub/updates/UnixWare/SCOSA-2005.47/SCOSA-2005.47.txt Broken Link
http://lists.grok.org.uk/pipermail/full-disclosure/2005-October/038019.html Broken Link Patch Vendor Advisory
http://lists.trustix.org/pipermail/tsl-announce/2005-October/000354.html Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17150 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17216 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17230 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17231 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17238 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17248 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17340 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17360 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17444 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17445 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/17480 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/18376 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/18584 Broken Link
http://secunia.com/advisories/20383 Broken Link
http://securitytracker.com/id?1015065 Broken Link Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://slackware.com/security/viewer.php?l=slackware-security&y=2005&m=slackware-security.423056 Broken Link
http://support.avaya.com/elmodocs2/security/ASA-2006-010.htm Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-874 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-876 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2006/dsa-1085 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.gentoo.org/security/en/glsa/glsa-200510-15.xml Third Party Advisory
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDKSA-2005:186 Third Party Advisory
http://www.novell.com/linux/security/advisories/2005_25_sr.html Broken Link
http://www.openpkg.org/security/OpenPKG-SA-2005.026-lynx.html Broken Link
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2005-803.html Broken Link Vendor Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/419763/100/0/threaded Broken Link Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/435689/30/4740/threaded Broken Link Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/15117 Broken Link Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=170253 Issue Tracking
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A9257 Broken Link
https://usn.ubuntu.com/206-1/ Broken Link
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