CVE-2002-0725
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 · uneditedNTFS file system in Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 SP2 allows local attackers to hide file usage activities via a hard link to the target file, which causes the link to be recorded in the audit trail instead of the target file.
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 confidenceThis vulnerability allows local attackers to obscure file access tracking by creating hard links to target files. When the hard link is accessed, the audit system logs the hard link path rather than the actual target file path, enabling attackers to hide their file usage activities from forensic review.
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 dataall versions= 4.0CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
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 Windows versionRun 'winver' command or check System Properties to identify the exact Windows version and build numberAffected if The system is running Windows 2000 (any service pack) or Windows NT 4.0 exactly
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Verify file auditing is enabledOpen Local Security Policy (secpol.msc), navigate to Local Policies > Audit Policy, and check if 'Audit object access' is enabled for Success and/or FailureAffected if Object access auditing is enabled and the system is Windows 2000 or NT 4.0
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Identify hard links on the systemUse the 'fsutil hardlink list <filename>' command or search for files with multiple directory entries using 'dir /R' to find alternate data streams or hard linksAffected if Hard links exist on a system with auditing enabled running an affected Windows version
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Review audit logs for hard link path loggingOpen Event Viewer, navigate to Security logs, and search for file access events - check if logged paths match the target file or a hard link pathAffected if Audit logs show file access via hard link paths rather than target file paths, indicating the vulnerability is present
A system is affected if it runs Windows 2000 or Windows NT 4.0 with file auditing enabled, as the audit system will log hard link paths instead of actual target file paths during file access.
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 dataThis vulnerability affects legacy Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 SP2 systems which are no longer supported. Organizations should migrate to supported operating systems and implement additional file integrity monitoring mechanisms to detect unauthorized file access.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2002-0725 — 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-2002-0725 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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