CVE-2008-2168

Exp

Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Apache 2.2.6 and earlier allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via UTF-7 encoded URLs that are not properly handled when displaying the 403 Forbidden error page.

Published: 2008-05-13 Last update: 2026-04-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2008-2168 is rated High Exploit Risk (61.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 54.85%, 99th percentile). 2 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-2008-2168

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
31759 exploit_db edb 2008-05-08 Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2008-2168

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 60.77% 54.85% -5.91%
2 2026-06-08 54.71% 60.77% +6.06%
3 2026-05-13 — 54.71% —

Full EPSS history (41 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2008-2168

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2008-2168

OS Trackers for CVE-2008-2168

vendor priority summary link
debian low CVE-2008-2168 low priority: Debian including 1 source packages (apache2), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2008-2168
redhat — — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2008-2168
ubuntu low CVE-2008-2168 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (apache2), 6 status rows across 6 suites (dapper, feisty, gutsy, hardy, intrepid, upstream): released 3, not-affected 2, ignored 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2008-2168

Vendor comments (NVD) for CVE-2008-2168

  • Apache (2008-05-14T00:00:00)

    The Apache security team state that this issue is due to web browsers that are violating RFC2616 and is not a flaw in the Apache HTTPD Server.

  • Red Hat (2008-05-14T00:00:00)

    This is actually a flaw in browsers that do not derive the response character set as required by RFC 2616. This does not affect the default configuration of Apache httpd in Red Hat products and will only affect customers who have removed the "AddDefaultCharset" directive. https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2008-2168

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2008-2168

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
apache http_server — cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.9 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.9:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.28 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.28:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.28 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.28:beta:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.32 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.32:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.32 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.32:beta:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.34 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.34:beta:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.35 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.35:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.36 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.36:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.37 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.37:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.38 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.38:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.39 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.39:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.40 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.40:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.41 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.41:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.42 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.42:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.43 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.43:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.44 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.44:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.45 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.45:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.46 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.46:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.47 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.47:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.48 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.48:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.49 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.49:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.50 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.50:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.51 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.51:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.52 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.52:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.53 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.53:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.54 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.54:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.55 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.55:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.56 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.56:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.57 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.57:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.58 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.58:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.59 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.59:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.60 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.60:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.0.61 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.0.61:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.1 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.1.1 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.1.2 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.1.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.1.3 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.1.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.1.4 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.1.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.1.5 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.1.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.1.6 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.1.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.1.7 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.1.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.1.8 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.1.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.2 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.2.1 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.2.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.2.2 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.2.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.2.3 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.2.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache http_server 2.2.4 cpe:2.3:a:apache:http_server:2.2.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2008-2168

URL Tags
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c01539432
http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=124654546101607&w=2
http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=125631037611762&w=2
http://secunia.com/advisories/31651
http://secunia.com/advisories/34219
http://secunia.com/advisories/35650
http://securityreason.com/securityalert/3889
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/491862/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/491901/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/491930/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/491967/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/29112 Exploit
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-731-1
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/42303
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A5143
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