Windows 2000 Terminal ServicesOperating system · Microsoft

CVE-2002-1933

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 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 →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
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 terminal services screensaver for Microsoft Windows 2000 does not automatically lock the terminal window if the window is minimized, which could allow local users to gain access to the terminal server window.

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 terminal services screensaver in Microsoft Windows 2000 fails to automatically lock the terminal session when the window is minimized. This allows a local user with physical access to the terminal server to view and interact with an unlocked session that the previous user thought was protected by the screensaver lock.

MitigationConfigure terminal services to require session locking even when minimized, or implement additional physical access controls at the terminal server location.

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 2000 Terminal ServicesOperating 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
Local
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

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
    Open System Properties (right-click My Computer > Properties) or run 'winver' command. Check if the OS is Microsoft Windows 2000.
    Affected if The system is not Windows 2000 (this vulnerability only affects Windows 2000 Terminal Services)
  2. Verify Terminal Services is installed and running
    Open Services (services.msc) and check if 'Terminal Services' service exists and is running, or check Computer Management > Services and Applications > Terminal Services.
    Affected if Terminal Services is not installed or not running on the system
  3. Confirm Terminal Services is enabled
    Open Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Add/Remove Windows Components > check if Terminal Services is enabled, or check the Terminal Services Configuration tool.
    Affected if Terminal Services is not enabled on the system
  4. Examine screensaver lock behavior for minimized sessions
    Connect via Terminal Services, configure a password-protected screensaver, minimize the Terminal Services window, and observe whether the session automatically locks after the screensaver timeout.
    Affected if The session remains accessible without authentication when the Terminal Services window is minimized, despite the screensaver being configured with password protection

A system is affected if it is running Windows 2000 with Terminal Services enabled, and the terminal session does not automatically lock when the Terminal Services window is minimized while a password-protected screensaver is active.

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

Configure terminal services to require session locking even when minimized, or implement additional physical access controls at the terminal server location.

Fix this in Windows 2000 Terminal Services 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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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2002-1933 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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