CVE-2001-0083
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 · uneditedWindows Media Unicast Service in Windows Media Services 4.0 and 4.1 does not properly shut down some types of connections, producing a memory leak that allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via a series of severed connections, aka the "Severed Windows Media Server Connection" vulnerability.
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 Windows Media Unicast Service in Windows Media Services 4.0 and 4.1 fails to properly shut down certain types of network connections, resulting in a memory leak. Remote attackers can exploit this by initiating multiple severed connections to exhaust server memory and cause a 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= 4.0= 4.1CVSS 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
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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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Verify Windows Media Services installationOpen Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Windows Components, or check Program Files\Windows Media Services folder for installation presenceAffected if Windows Media Services is not installed on the system
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Determine the Windows Media Services versionRight-click the Windows Media Services entry in Programs, select Properties, or run 'wmcmd.exe -v' from the installation directoryAffected if Version is exactly 4.0 or 4.1 (not 4.2 or later)
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Confirm the Unicast Service component is enabledOpen Windows Media Services admin tool, expand the server tree, verify Unicast Protocol namespace is present and enabled under ProtocolsAffected if Unicast Protocol is listed and enabled in the protocols configuration
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Check for anomalous network connectionsRun 'netstat -an' or use Network Monitor to observe connection states, look for many connections in FIN_WAIT or CLOSE_WAIT states targeting port 554 (RTSP default)Affected if Large number of severed connections accumulating over time indicating active exploitation
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Monitor memory consumption trendsUse Task Manager or Perfmon to track w3wp.exe or nsunicast.exe process memory usage over several hours under normal loadAffected if Memory continuously grows without leveling off, suggesting the memory leak is active
System is affected if Windows Media Services versions 4.0 or 4.1 are installed with the Unicast Service enabled and abnormal connection/memory patterns are observed.
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 to a patched version of Windows Media Services or disable the Unicast Service if not required; network segmentation can limit external attack surface.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 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-2001-0083 — 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-2001-0083 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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