Windows 98Operating system · Microsoft

CVE-2001-0721

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2001-12-06
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) in Windows 98, 98SE, ME, and XP allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption or crash) via a malformed UPnP request.

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

The UPnP service in Windows 98, 98SE, ME, and XP fails to properly validate malformed UPnP requests, allowing remote attackers to send specially crafted packets that cause excessive memory consumption or system crash.

MitigationDisable the UPnP service on legacy systems if not required, or block UPnP traffic (port 1900/UDP) at network perimeter firewalls. Consider retiring these unsupported operating systems.

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
Windows 98Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 98seOperating system
Affected:all versions
Windows MeOperating system
Affected:all versions
Windows XpOperating system
Affected:all versions

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
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 checks

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

  1. Identify the Windows version
    Run 'winver' or check System Properties to confirm the installed operating system
    Affected if If the OS is Windows 98, Windows 98SE, Windows ME, or Windows XP (any version), the system falls within the affected product range
  2. Locate the UPnP service
    Open Services control panel and look for 'Universal Plug and Play' service, or run 'sc query upnphost' on XP systems
    Affected if If the UPnP service entry exists on the system, it is a candidate for this vulnerability
  3. Determine UPnP service state
    Check the service status in Services panel or run 'sc query upnphost' to see if it shows STATE: RUNNING
    Affected if If the UPnP service is currently running, the vulnerability is active and exploitable
  4. Verify UPnP network listener
    Run 'netstat -an | findstr :1900' or use a port scanner to check if UDP port 1900 is listening
    Affected if If UDP port 1900 is open and listening, the system is exposed to network-based exploitation of this flaw

A system is affected if it runs Windows 98, 98SE, ME, or XP AND has the UPnP service installed and running with port 1900/UDP exposed.

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 the UPnP service on legacy systems if not required, or block UPnP traffic (port 1900/UDP) at network perimeter firewalls. Consider retiring these unsupported operating systems.

Fix this in Windows 98 Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2001-0721 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