CVE-2001-0538
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 · uneditedMicrosoft Outlook View ActiveX Control in Microsoft Outlook 2002 and earlier allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a malicious HTML e-mail message or web page.
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 confidenceMicrosoft Outlook View ActiveX Control in Outlook 2002 and earlier contains a vulnerability allowing arbitrary command execution via malicious HTML e-mail or web pages. Attackers can craft HTML content that exploits the ActiveX control to run commands on the victim's system.
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<= 2002CVSS 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
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 Microsoft Outlook is installedLook for Outlook.exe in typical installation paths (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\) or check Add/Remove programs for Microsoft OutlookAffected if Outlook is not installed - not affected by this CVE
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Determine the installed Outlook versionOpen Outlook, go to Help > About Microsoft Outlook, or check the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\[version]\Outlook\InstallRootAffected if Unable to determine version - status unclear
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Compare version against affected rangeCheck if the installed version is 2002 or earlier (version 10.x)Affected if Version is 10.x (2002) or earlier - falls within affected range
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Verify if Outlook View ActiveX control is presentCheck for the View control registration in registry under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Outlook.ViewCtrl or HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Outlook.ViewCtrl.1Affected if View ActiveX control is registered - could be exploited if enabled
User is affected if Microsoft Outlook version 2002 or earlier is installed and the Outlook View ActiveX control is present, allowing malicious HTML content to execute arbitrary commands.
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.
dbcve · scopedUpgrade from Outlook 2002 and earlier to a supported version, or disable ActiveX controls in Outlook and apply Microsoft's security patches for this vulnerability.
Outlook 2003 or later
- Upgrade Microsoft Outlook to a version newer than Outlook 2002 (such as Outlook 2003 or later), which removes or disables the vulnerable View ActiveX Control
- Alternatively, disable ActiveX controls in Internet Explorer security settings to mitigate the vulnerability
- Ensure Windows Update is run to apply any relevant security patches for Outlook and Internet Explorer
- For organizations unable to upgrade immediately, configure email gateway filtering to block HTML email attachments and messages from untrusted sources
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2001-0538 — 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-2001-0538 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data