Microsoft Internet Explorer 5/5.5/6.0 privileges management

CVSS Meta Temp Score
CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.
Current Exploit Price (≈)
Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.
CTI Interest Score
Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
6.8$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Microsoft Internet Explorer 5/5.5/6.0. This issue affects some unknown processing. The manipulation leads to privileges management. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2003-1041. The attack may be initiated remotely. Furthermore, there is an exploit available. It is recommended to apply a patch to fix this issue. Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Microsoft Internet Explorer 5/5.5/6.0 (Web Browser). This vulnerability affects an unknown part. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a privileges management vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-269. The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

Internet Explorer 5.x and 6.0 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary programs via a modified directory traversal attack using a URL containing ".." (dot dot) sequences and a filename that ends in "::" which is treated as a .chm file even if it does not have a .chm extension. NOTE: this bug may overlap CVE-2004-0475.

The issue has been introduced in 06/02/1998. The weakness was released 07/13/2004 by Brett Moore (arma) with Security-Assessment.com as MS04-023 as confirmed bulletin (Technet). The advisory is available at microsoft.com. This vulnerability was named CVE-2003-1041. The attack can be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is required for a successful exploitation. Successful exploitation requires user interaction by the victim. Technical details are unknown but a public exploit is available. This vulnerability is assigned to T1068 by the MITRE ATT&CK project.

It is possible to download the exploit at exploit-db.com. It is declared as proof-of-concept. The vulnerability was handled as a non-public zero-day exploit for at least 2204 days. During that time the estimated underground price was around $25k-$100k. The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 13641 (MS04-023: Vulnerability in HTML Help Could Allow Code Execution (840315)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment. It is assigned to the family Windows : Microsoft Bulletins. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 90135 (Microsoft Windows HTML Help Remote Code Execution (MS04-023)).

Applying the patch MS04-023 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at windowsupdate.microsoft.com. Furthermore it is possible to detect and prevent this kind of attack with TippingPoint and the filter 2667.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at X-Force (16586), Exploit-DB (23504), Tenable (13641), SecurityFocus (BID 9320†) and Secunia (SA12059†). Entries connected to this vulnerability are available at VDB-462 and VDB-765. Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

Vendor

Name

Version

License

Support

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 7.6
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 6.8

VulDB Base Score: 7.6
VulDB Temp Score: 6.8
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
unlockunlockunlockunlockunlockunlock
unlockunlockunlockunlockunlockunlock
unlockunlockunlockunlockunlockunlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Privileges management
CWE: CWE-269 / CWE-266
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Access: Public
Status: Proof-of-Concept
Download: 🔍

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

0-Dayunlockunlockunlockunlock
Todayunlockunlockunlockunlock

Nessus ID: 13641
Nessus Name: MS04-023: Vulnerability in HTML Help Could Allow Code Execution (840315)
Nessus File: 🔍
Nessus Risk: 🔍
Nessus Family: 🔍

Qualys ID: 🔍
Qualys Name: 🔍

Exploit-DB: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Patch
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔍

Patch: MS04-023
TippingPoint: 🔍

McAfee IPS: 🔍
McAfee IPS Version: 🔍

ISS Proventia IPS: 🔍
PaloAlto IPS: 🔍

Timelineinfo

06/02/1998 🔍
12/30/2003 +2037 days 🔍
05/13/2004 +134 days 🔍
06/14/2004 +32 days 🔍
07/13/2004 +29 days 🔍
07/13/2004 +0 days 🔍
07/14/2004 +1 days 🔍
07/14/2004 +0 days 🔍
02/02/2025 +7508 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: microsoft.com

Advisory: MS04-023
Researcher: Brett Moore (arma)
Organization: Security-Assessment.com
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2003-1041 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2003-1041
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-766

OVAL: 🔍

CERT: 🔍
X-Force: 16586
SecurityFocus: 9320 - Microsoft Windows showHelp CHM File Execution Weakness
Secunia: 12059 - Microsoft Windows showHelp and HTML Help Vulnerabilities, Highly Critical
Vulnerability Center: 4727 - [MS04-023] Microsoft Windows showHelp Function Enables .CHM File Referencing, Medium

scip Labs: https://www.scip.ch/en/?labs.20161013
See also: 🔍

Entryinfo

Created: 07/14/2004 03:02 PM
Updated: 02/02/2025 06:11 AM
Changes: 07/14/2004 03:02 PM (83), 04/07/2017 12:00 PM (3), 03/09/2021 04:21 PM (1), 03/09/2021 04:26 PM (7), 03/09/2021 04:29 PM (1), 01/02/2025 11:55 AM (15), 02/02/2025 06:11 AM (11)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 18:013:40

Discussion

No comments yet. Languages: en.

Please log in to comment.

◂ PreviousOverviewNext ▸

Do you know our Splunk app?

Download it now for free!