CVE-1999-1525
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 · uneditedMacromedia Shockwave before 6.0 allows a malicious webmaster to read a user's mail box and possibly access internal web servers via the GetNextText command on a Shockwave movie.
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 confidenceMacromedia Shockwave player before version 6.0 contains a vulnerability where the GetNextText command can be exploited by malicious websites to read a user's local mailbox files and potentially access internal network resources via the browser. This is a client-side same-origin policy bypass allowing unauthorized local file and network access.
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<= 6.0CVSS 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
- High
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
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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Check if Shockwave plugin is installed in the browserOpen the browser's plugin or extension manager. In Internet Explorer, go to Tools > Manage Add-ons. In Firefox, go to about:plugins. Look for any entry named 'Shockwave Flash Plugin' or 'Macromedia Shockwave'.Affected if The Shockwave plugin appears in the browser's list of installed plugins.
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Identify the installed Shockwave versionIn the browser's plugin details panel, locate the 'Version' or 'File Version' field associated with the Shockwave plugin entry. Record the full version number displayed.Affected if A version number is displayed and it is 6.0 or lower (for example, 5.0, 6.0).
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Verify the exact file version on WindowsSearch for the Shockwave executable on the system. Common locations include C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\ or C:\Program Files\Macromedia\. Right-click the shockwave.exe file, select Properties, and check the 'File version' listed on the Details tab.Affected if The file version shown is 6.0.0.x or lower.
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Check for legacy plugin filesSearch the system for files named 'swflash.cab', 'Shockwave.class', or 'director' related DLLs in browser plugin directories. Use Windows Search or the command 'dir /s /b C:\*.cab | findstr /i shockwave'.Affected if Legacy Shockwave plugin files exist on the system, indicating an old installation.
A user is affected if the Macromedia Shockwave Flash Plugin is installed with a version numbered 6.0 or lower, as versions above 6.0 contain the fix for this same-origin policy bypass.
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 dataUpgrade Macromedia Shockwave to version 6.0 or later, or remove the obsolete plugin entirely since Shockwave is deprecated and no longer supported by modern browsers.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-1999-1525 — 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-1999-1525 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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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.
- 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