Windows NtOperating system · Microsoft

CVE-2001-0045

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2001-02-16
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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
The default permissions for the RAS Administration key in Windows NT 4.0 allows local users to execute arbitrary commands by changing the value to point to a malicious DLL, aka one of the "Registry Permissions" vulnerabilities.

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

A detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.

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 NtOperating system
Affected:= 4.0= terminal_server

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
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

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.

dbcve · scoped
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Recommended fix High confidence

Migrate from Windows NT 4.0 to a currently supported Windows version (Windows 10/11 or Windows Server 2016+)

  1. 1. Migrate all systems running Windows NT 4.0 to a supported Windows operating system (such as Windows 2000, Windows XP, or later). Windows NT 4.0 has been end-of-life for many years and no longer receives security updates.
  2. 2. If migration is not immediately possible, identify the RAS Administration registry key (typically located under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\RAS).
  3. 3. Modify the permissions on the RAS Administration key to remove unnecessary user access - restrict write/Full Control permissions to Administrators only.
  4. 4. Verify that no unauthorized DLL paths are configured in the registry key values.
  5. 5. Prioritize migration to a supported operating system as the definitive remediation, as Windows NT 4.0 no longer receives security patches.
Caveat Migration from Windows NT 4.0 to modern Windows will require significant testing as applications and hardware drivers may not be compatible; Windows NT 4.0 is long past end-of-life with no vendor support

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

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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-2001-0045 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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