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Windows 2000Operating system · Microsoft

CVE-1999-0726

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 1999-06-30
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
87/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
An attacker can conduct a denial of service in Windows NT by executing a program with a malformed file image header.

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 · moderate confidence

A denial of service vulnerability in Windows NT where executing a program with a malformed PE (Portable Executable) file image header causes the system to crash or become unresponsive. The malformed header triggers a failure in the Windows NT executable loader, resulting in a system freeze or blue screen.

MitigationAvoid executing programs from untrusted or unknown sources. For legacy Windows NT systems, consider migrating to supported operating systems as Windows NT is no longer supported by Microsoft.

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
Windows 2000Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows NtOperating system
Affected:all versions= 4.0

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the Windows version
    Run 'winver' from the command prompt or check System Properties to determine the exact Windows version
    Affected if The system is running Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 (any version)
  2. Confirm the NT kernel version
    Run 'ver' at command prompt or check the kernel version via 'systeminfo' if available
    Affected if The kernel reports as Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000
  3. Verify executable loader is active
    This is a built-in component of Windows NT/2000 - the PE loader runs by default when executing any program
    Affected if The system can execute programs (the loader is always active on affected OS versions)

If the system is running any version of Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000, it is affected by this vulnerability in the PE executable loader.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Avoid executing programs from untrusted or unknown sources. For legacy Windows NT systems, consider migrating to supported operating systems as Windows NT is no longer supported by Microsoft.

Fix this in Windows 2000 Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
3.0 hours of engineering $750
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-1999-0726 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data