Site ServerApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2000-0161

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2000-02-18
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
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
Sample web sites on Microsoft Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition do not validate an identification number, which allows remote attackers to execute SQL commands.

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 confidence

Microsoft Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition ships with sample web pages that fail to validate an identification number parameter before incorporating it into SQL queries, enabling remote attackers to inject and execute arbitrary SQL commands via SQL injection.

MitigationDisable or remove the vulnerable sample web applications, apply any available Microsoft security patches, and implement strict input validation on all user-supplied parameters before SQL query execution.

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
Site ServerApplication
Affected:= 3.0

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
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/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 checks

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

  1. Verify Microsoft Site Server 3.0 installation
    Check for Microsoft Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition installation by reviewing installed programs or checking the server for Site Server components. On Windows servers, check Add/Remove Programs or review IIS sites for Site Server administration tools.
    Affected if Microsoft Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition is installed on the server
  2. Locate sample web application files
    Search the web root directories (typically C:\Inetpub\ or IIS site directories) for sample commerce pages. Look for directories containing sample e-commerce pages, commonly found in paths like /samples/commerce/ or similar documentation-provided example directories.
    Affected if Sample commerce application directories and ASP files from the Site Server installation remain on the server
  3. Check if sample applications are accessible
    Review IIS configuration or attempt to access known sample page URLs if they exist. Check the web server configuration for any mappings or virtual directories pointing to Site Server sample applications.
    Affected if Sample web pages are accessible via HTTP/HTTPS from the web server
  4. Inspect parameter handling in sample pages
    If sample pages are found, examine the ASP source code for any page that accepts an identification number parameter and uses it in SQL queries without visible input validation. Look for query patterns like 'SELECT * FROM table WHERE ID = ' + request("id").
    Affected if Sample pages contain SQL queries that incorporate request parameters without validation routines
  5. Review web application authentication and exposure
    Determine if these sample pages are protected by authentication or accessible to unauthenticated users. Check IIS authentication settings and NTFS permissions on the sample directories.
    Affected if Sample commerce pages are accessible to unauthenticated or anonymous web users

A server is affected if Microsoft Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition is installed AND the vulnerable sample web application pages with unvalidated ID parameters are present and accessible on the network.

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

Disable or remove the vulnerable sample web applications, apply any available Microsoft security patches, and implement strict input validation on all user-supplied parameters before SQL query execution.

Fix this in Site Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2000-0161 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2000-0161 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