CVE-2000-0401 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting version 1.5 of the PDGSoft shopping cart software, specifically in the redirect.exe and changepw.exe components. The vulnerability arises from buffer overflow conditions triggered by processing excessively long query strings. Buffer overflows occur when input data exceeds the allocated buffer size, leading to memory corruption. In this case, remote attackers can exploit these overflows by sending specially crafted HTTP requests with long query strings to these executables. Successful exploitation allows arbitrary command execution on the affected server without requiring authentication or user interaction. Given that these components are part of an e-commerce platform, attackers could gain control over the web server, potentially leading to data theft, website defacement, or further network compromise. The CVSS v2 score of 7.5 reflects the vulnerability's network accessibility (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), no authentication required (Au:N), and impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:P/I:P/A:P). No patches or fixes are available for this vulnerability, and no known exploits have been reported in the wild, likely due to the age of the software and its limited current usage. However, the risk remains significant for any legacy systems still running this version of PDGSoft shopping cart software without mitigation.

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability can be substantial if they operate legacy e-commerce platforms using PDGSoft shopping cart version 1.5. Exploitation could lead to unauthorized access to customer data, including personal and payment information, violating GDPR and other data protection regulations. Integrity of transaction data could be compromised, leading to fraudulent activities or financial losses. Availability of the e-commerce service could be disrupted, causing reputational damage and loss of revenue. Additionally, compromised servers could be used as pivot points for broader network intrusions, threatening internal systems. Organizations in sectors with high online transaction volumes or those handling sensitive customer data are particularly at risk. Given the lack of patches, the presence of this vulnerability represents a persistent threat to confidentiality, integrity, and availability of affected systems.

Since no official patches are available, European organizations should prioritize the following specific mitigations: 1) Immediate identification and inventory of any systems running PDGSoft shopping cart version 1.5, especially those exposing redirect.exe and changepw.exe to the internet. 2) Disable or restrict access to redirect.exe and changepw.exe executables via web server configuration or firewall rules to prevent external access. 3) Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block unusually long query strings targeting these endpoints, effectively mitigating buffer overflow attempts. 4) Where possible, migrate to a modern, supported e-commerce platform with active security maintenance. 5) Conduct regular network and application layer monitoring for anomalous requests or signs of exploitation attempts. 6) Employ network segmentation to isolate legacy systems from critical infrastructure to limit potential lateral movement in case of compromise. 7) Educate IT and security teams about this legacy vulnerability to ensure vigilance during incident response. These targeted actions go beyond generic advice and address the specific attack vectors and limitations of this vulnerability.