CVE-2001-0493
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 · uneditedSmall HTTP server 2.03 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via a URL that contains an MS-DOS device name such as aux.
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 confidenceSmall HTTP server 2.03 does not properly sanitize URL requests containing MS-DOS reserved device names (aux, com1, lpt1, con, nul, prn, etc.). When the server attempts to access these special device names as file resources, it triggers a denial of service condition, likely due to the Windows operating system handling these reserved names as special device interfaces rather than regular files.
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= 2.03CVSS 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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Identify if Small HTTP Server is runningLook for smallhttp.exe process or check running services on the system. If the server is remote, verify it is accessible on its HTTP port.Affected if Small HTTP Server process is active and network-accessible
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Confirm the server versionQuery the HTTP server banner via telnet or netcat to port 80, or check the file version of smallhttp.exe on the systemAffected if Version is exactly 2.03
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Test URL handling of reserved device namesSend HTTP GET requests to URLs containing MS-DOS reserved names such as /aux, /con, /nul, /prn, /com1, /lpt1Affected if Server becomes unresponsive, crashes, or exhibits abnormal behavior when these requests are processed
The environment is affected if Small HTTP Server version 2.03 is running and processing requests triggers a denial of service when URLs contain MS-DOS reserved device names.
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 Small HTTP server if available; alternatively, implement input validation or URL filtering at the application or network level to reject requests containing reserved MS-DOS device names.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2001-0493 — 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-2001-0493 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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