CVE-1999-0449
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe ExAir sample site in IIS 4 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) via a direct request to the (1) advsearch.asp, (2) query.asp, or (3) search.asp scripts.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe ExAir sample site in IIS 4 contains ASP scripts (advsearch.asp, query.asp, and search.asp) that consume excessive CPU resources when directly requested by remote attackers, leading to denial of service.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 4.0CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm IIS versionOpen IIS Manager or run 'iisweb.vbs /query' from command line to identify the IIS version installedAffected if Version is not IIS 4.0, then not vulnerable to this specific CVE
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Locate ExAir sample application directoryCheck for the presence of ExAir sample site in the default IIS web root path (typically C:\Inetpub\) or search for directories named 'ExAir' or 'ExAirSample'Affected if ExAir directory does not exist, then not vulnerable since the sample application is not installed
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Identify the vulnerable ASP scriptsLook for the presence of advsearch.asp, query.asp, and search.asp files within the ExAir directory structureAffected if None of these three ASP files exist in the ExAir folder, the specific DoS vulnerability does not apply
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Verify the ExAir application is accessibleCheck if the ExAir virtual directory or application is configured and enabled in IIS, and attempt to access one of the vulnerable ASP pages remotely (e.g., http://server/ExAir/search.asp)Affected if The ExAir sample site is configured and reachable over the network, the server is vulnerable to remote CPU exhaustion attacks
A server is affected if it runs IIS 4.0 with the ExAir sample application installed and the three ASP scripts (advsearch.asp, query.asp, search.asp) are accessible to remote attackers.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataRemove or disable the ExAir sample application from production IIS 4 servers to prevent unauthenticated remote attackers from triggering CPU exhaustion.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-0449 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-1999-0449 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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