High Bandwidth Digital Content ProtectionApplication · Intel

CVE-2001-0903

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2001-11-20
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Linear key exchange process in High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) System allows remote attackers to access data as plaintext, avoid device blacklists, clone devices, and create new device keyvectors by computing and using alternate key combinations for authentication.

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

HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) uses a fundamentally weak linear key exchange process that allows attackers to mathematically derive alternate authentication key combinations. This enables plaintext data access, device blacklisting bypass, device cloning, and creation of unauthorized device keyvectors.

MitigationThis is a protocol-level flaw requiring HDCP specification updates and hardware replacement across affected devices; organizations should inventory HDCP-enabled equipment and plan for vendor-supplied firmware updates or hardware refresh cycles.

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
High Bandwidth Digital Content ProtectionApplication
Affected:= 1.0

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
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/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. Inventory HDCP-enabled devices
    Identify all devices in your environment that implement HDCP (digital displays, graphics cards, set-top boxes, DVD/Blu-ray players, video capture devices). Check device specifications, firmware, or software that explicitly mentions HDCP support.
    Affected if Any device implementing HDCP version 1.0 is affected
  2. Check Intel HDCP software version
    If Intel High Bandwidth Digital Content Protection software is installed on a system, verify the installed version through the software's About/Version dialog, installed programs list, or by checking the version metadata of the HDCP software components.
    Affected if Version is exactly 1.0
  3. Identify HDCP protocol usage
    Determine if HDCP is actively enabled in the display/device settings or is being used for content transmission. Check device configuration menus, driver settings, or content source settings for HDCP enablement status.
    Affected if HDCP is enabled and version 1.0 is in use
  4. Inspect device firmware versions
    For standalone HDCP-enabled hardware (monitors, TVs, receivers), access the firmware or system information through on-screen menus, manufacturer documentation, or by querying the device over supported management interfaces (if available) to obtain the HDCP implementation version.
    Affected if Firmware reports HDCP version 1.0

A user is affected if they have devices or software implementing Intel HDCP version 1.0 with HDCP enabled or actively used for content protection.

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

This is a protocol-level flaw requiring HDCP specification updates and hardware replacement across affected devices; organizations should inventory HDCP-enabled equipment and plan for vendor-supplied firmware updates or hardware refresh cycles.

Fix this in High Bandwidth Digital Content Protection Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation24.0 h
  • Implementation80.0 h
  • Testing40.0 h
  • Review / QA16.0 h
160.0 hours of engineering $28,080
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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-2001-0903 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