Windows Media PlayerApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2002-1844

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2002-12-31
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Microsoft Windows Media Player (WMP) 6.3, when installed on Solaris, installs executables with world-writable permissions, which allows local users to delete or modify the executables to gain privileges.

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

Microsoft Windows Media Player 6.3 for Solaris installs executable files with world-writable permissions (chmod 777), allowing any local user on the system to modify or replace these binaries. A local attacker can exploit this to escalate privileges by replacing the WMP executables with malicious code.

MitigationChange file permissions on WMP executables to remove world-writable access (chmod 755 or more restrictive), or uninstall WMP 6.3 from Solaris if not required.

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 Media PlayerApplication
Affected:= 6.3

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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. Confirm WMP 6.3 is installed on Solaris
    Search for Windows Media Player installation directories or executables on the Solaris system using 'find' or 'locate' commands to locate WMP-related files
    Affected if Windows Media Player 6.3 is found installed on the Solaris system
  2. Verify the exact version is 6.3
    Check the version information of the installed WMP executables using 'pkginfo', 'pkgparam', or by examining version strings within the binary files
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 6.3 (version 6.3 only)
  3. Identify WMP executable files
    Locate all executable files associated with Windows Media Player installation, typically found in /opt, /usr/local, or the installation directory
    Affected if WMP executable files exist on the system
  4. Check file permissions are world-writable
    Use 'ls -la' command on the WMP executable files to inspect their permissions. Look for permissions showing 'rwxrwxrwx' (777) which indicates world-writable status
    Affected if The WMP executable files have world-writable permissions (chmod 777)
  5. Verify any user can modify the binaries
    Test write access to the WMP executables using a non-root account or check file ownership and permissions to confirm all users have write access
    Affected if Non-privileged users can write to or modify the WMP executable files

A user is affected if they are running Microsoft Windows Media Player version 6.3 on Solaris with executable files set to world-writable (chmod 777) permissions, allowing any local user to modify the binaries.

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

Change file permissions on WMP executables to remove world-writable access (chmod 755 or more restrictive), or uninstall WMP 6.3 from Solaris if not required.

Fix this in Windows Media Player Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,090
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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-2002-1844 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