CVE-2002-1656

CVE-2002-1656 describes a vulnerability in X-News (x_news) version 1.1 and earlier, where attackers can authenticate as other users. This is achieved by obtaining the MD5 checksum of a user's password, either through network sniffing or by accessing the 'users.txt' data file, and then submitting this checksum in a cookie. The vulnerability has a CVSS score of 7.5, indicating high severity due to its network-based attack vector, low complexity, and potential for partial confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts. While there is no evidence of active exploitation or Metasploit/Nuclei modules, an exploit demonstrating remote password disclosure via 'users.txt' is available on ExploitDB, though community discussion and media coverage are minimal.