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Internet ExplorerApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2002-0815

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2002-08-12
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
The Javascript "Same Origin Policy" (SOP), as implemented in (1) Netscape, (2) Mozilla, and (3) Internet Explorer, allows a remote web server to access HTTP and SOAP/XML content from restricted sites by mapping the malicious server's parent DNS domain name to the restricted site, loading a page from the restricted site into one frame, and passing the information to the attacker-controlled frame, which is allowed because the document.domain of the two frames matches on the parent domain.

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 JavaScript Same Origin Policy (SOP) implementation in Netscape, Mozilla, and Internet Explorer allowed a bypass where setting document.domain to a parent domain enabled communication between frames from different subdomains, permitting a malicious server to access SOAP/XML content from restricted sites by mapping the parent DNS domain.

MitigationThis is a legacy browser vulnerability from 2002 that has long been addressed in modern browser versions. Organizations should ensure they are not using vulnerable legacy browser versions and should upgrade to current, supported browser releases.

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
Internet ExplorerApplication
Affected:= 6.0.2900
MozillaApplication
Affected:all versions
NavigatorApplication
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
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. Identify the installed browser version
    For Internet Explorer: Check Help > About or the version in the title bar. For Mozilla/Netscape: Check Help > About or the application name/version displayed. Record the exact version number and product name.
    Affected if The browser is Internet Explorer version 6.0.2900, any Mozilla version, or any Netscape Navigator version.
  2. Confirm JavaScript execution is enabled
    In the browser's security settings, verify that Active Scripting or JavaScript is enabled. This is required for the document.domain manipulation to be possible.
    Affected if JavaScript/Active Scripting is enabled - the vulnerability cannot be exploited if scripting is disabled.
  3. Verify the document.domain property behavior
    In a test HTML page, load content from two different subdomains (e.g., test1.example.com and test2.example.com) in separate frames. Attempt to set document.domain to the parent domain (example.com) in both frames and verify if cross-frame communication becomes possible.
    Affected if Setting document.domain to the parent domain successfully enables communication between frames from different subdomains - this indicates the vulnerable SOP bypass exists.
  4. Check for SOAP/XML data exposure scenarios
    If the environment uses web applications with SOAP/XML endpoints, verify whether a malicious page hosted on a parent domain could access content from restricted subdomain sites through the document.domain mechanism.
    Affected if A page from a parent domain can access SOAP/XML content from a subdomain after both frames set document.domain to the parent domain.

A user is affected if they are running Internet Explorer 6.0.2900, any Mozilla version, or any Netscape Navigator version with JavaScript enabled, and the document.domain property can be set to bypass the same origin policy between subdomains.

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 legacy browser vulnerability from 2002 that has long been addressed in modern browser versions. Organizations should ensure they are not using vulnerable legacy browser versions and should upgrade to current, supported browser releases.

Fix this in Internet Explorer Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
4.0 hours of engineering $750
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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-2002-0815 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
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