HP Instant Toptools up to 5.54 hpnst.exe resource consumption

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.
4.8	$0-$5k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic has been found in HP Instant Toptools up to 5.54. This affects an unknown function of the file hpnst.exe. The manipulation leads to resource consumption. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2003-0169. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. Furthermore, there is an exploit available. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in HP Instant Toptools up to 5.54. This issue affects some unknown processing of the file hpnst.exe. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a resource consumption vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-400. The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource, thereby enabling an actor to influence the amount of resources consumed, eventually leading to the exhaustion of available resources. Impacted is availability. The summary by CVE is:

hpnst.exe in the GoAhead-Webs webserver for HP Instant TopTools before 5.55 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) via a request to hpnst.exe that calls itself, which causes an infinite loop.

The weakness was shared 04/11/2003 (Website). The advisory is shared at securityfocus.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2003-0169. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is needed for a successful exploitation. Technical details as well as a public exploit are known. MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1499 for this issue.

The exploit is available at exploit-db.com. It is declared as proof-of-concept. The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 11520 (HP Instant TopTools hpnst.exe CGI DoS), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment. It is assigned to the family CGI abuses.

Upgrading to version 5.55 eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Exploit-DB (22447), Tenable (11520), SecurityFocus (BID 7246†) and Vulnerability Center (SBV-1268†). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Vendor

• HP

Name

• Instant Toptools

Version

• 5.0
• 5.1
• 5.2
• 5.3
• 5.4
• 5.5
• 5.6
• 5.7
• 5.8
• 5.9
• 5.10
• 5.11
• 5.12
• 5.13
• 5.14
• 5.15
• 5.16
• 5.17
• 5.18
• 5.19
• 5.20
• 5.21
• 5.22
• 5.23
• 5.24
• 5.25
• 5.26
• 5.27
• 5.28
• 5.29
• 5.30
• 5.31
• 5.32
• 5.33
• 5.34
• 5.35
• 5.36
• 5.37
• 5.38
• 5.39
• 5.40
• 5.41
• 5.42
• 5.43
• 5.44
• 5.45
• 5.46
• 5.47
• 5.48
• 5.49
• 5.50
• 5.51
• 5.52
• 5.53
• 5.54

License

• commercial

Website

• Vendor: https://www.hp.com/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔍
• 🔍
• 🔍

CPE 2.2info

• 🔍
• 🔍
• 🔍

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 5.3
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 4.8

VulDB Base Score: 5.3
VulDB Temp Score: 4.8
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

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

NVD Base Score: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Resource consumption
CWE: CWE-400 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

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

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Nessus ID: 11520
Nessus Name: HP Instant TopTools hpnst.exe CGI DoS
Nessus File: 🔍
Nessus Risk: 🔍
Nessus Family: 🔍

Exploit-DB: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

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

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔍

Upgrade: Instant Toptools 5.55

Timelineinfo

03/27/2003 🔍
04/06/2003 +10 days 🔍
04/11/2003 +5 days 🔍
04/11/2003 +0 days 🔍
04/11/2003 +0 days 🔍
06/24/2003 +74 days 🔍
08/08/2014 +4063 days 🔍
01/28/2025 +3826 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: hp.com

Advisory: securityfocus.com⛔
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2003-0169 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2003-0169
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-20369
SecurityFocus: 7246
Vulnerability Center: 1268 - Dos in HP Instant TopTools hpnst.exe, Medium

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

Entryinfo

Created: 08/08/2014 13:13
Updated: 01/28/2025 13:52
Changes: 08/08/2014 13:13 (58), 06/08/2017 23:46 (1), 06/28/2021 14:07 (2), 06/28/2021 14:12 (1), 01/28/2025 13:52 (25)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Discussion

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