The POP3 mail client in Mozilla 1.0 and earlier, and Netscape Communicator 4.7 and earlier, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (no new mail) via a mail message containing a dot (.) at a newline, which is interpreted as the end of the message.
CVE-2002-2338
This CVE was only ever scored under CVSS v2.0. NVD CVSS v2.0 base 5.0 — 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:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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 3.9% exploitation probability in the next 30 days, which is reflected in EG Risk but does not lift the v2 base. Confidence: LOW.
- Lower severity and no public exploit yet
No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.
- CVSS v2.0 (legacy)
- 5.0MEDIUMNVD never assigned a CVSS v3 rating to this CVE
- EG Score
- 5.0(low)
- EG Risk
- 53(Track)EG Risk 53/100SSVC: Track
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 computedSeverity50% × 45%Exploitation65% × 40%Automatability30% × 15%Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence. - EPSS PROB
- 4%
- EPSS %ILE
- 89%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
December 31, 2002
Last Modified
June 16, 2026
References (14)
- cve@mitrehttp://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=144228
- cve@mitrehttp://mozilla.org/releases/mozilla1.0.1/security-fixes-1.0.1.html
- cve@mitrehttp://online.securityfocus.com/archive/1/276628
- cve@mitrehttp://www.iss.net/security_center/static/9343.php
- cve@mitrehttp://www.mandrakesoft.com/security/advisories?name=MDKSA-2002:074
- cve@mitrehttp://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/276946
- cve@mitrehttp://www.securityfocus.com/bid/5002
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=144228
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://mozilla.org/releases/mozilla1.0.1/security-fixes-1.0.1.html
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://online.securityfocus.com/archive/1/276628
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://www.iss.net/security_center/static/9343.php
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://www.mandrakesoft.com/security/advisories?name=MDKSA-2002:074
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/276946
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/5002
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 8× in last 7d / 25× 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.
- 2026-07-26 13:22 UTCEG score recompute▲ 5.00
- 2026-07-25 14:11 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-24 14:11 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 00:45 UTCEG score recompute
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- 2026-07-22 23:49 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 21:29 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-20 17:02 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-06-27 03:04 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-05-31 18:21 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-05-31 18:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-05-31 00:13 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-05-18 21:29 UTCEPSS rescore
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Publicly available exploits
(1 reference)Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Exploit-DB entry). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.
- Exploit-DBEDB-21539✓ verifiedFirst seen Jun 12, 2002
Netscape 4.x/6.x / Mozilla 0.9.x - Malformed Email POP3 Denial of Service
Open source ↗
Related CVEs(same CWE)
Same CWE
10 shownCWE-20
- CVE-2005-0050EG 10.0EPSS p99HIGH
- CVE-2004-1019EG 10.0EPSS p94HIGH
- CVE-2004-0840EG 10.0EPSS p98HIGH
- CVE-2003-1425EG 10.0EPSS p96HIGH
- CVE-2003-1487EG 10.0EPSS p94HIGH
- CVE-2002-1874EG 10.0HIGH
- CVE-2002-2236EG 10.0EPSS p91HIGH
- CVE-2002-2365EG 10.0HIGH
- CVE-2002-1358EG 10.0EPSS p92HIGH
- CVE-2002-1359EG 10.0EPSS p100HIGH
Frequently asked(4)
What is CVE-2002-2338?
When was CVE-2002-2338 disclosed?
Is CVE-2002-2338 actively exploited?
How do I remediate CVE-2002-2338?
Dependency Blast Radius
Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2002-2338
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2002-2338?
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