CVE-2003-0223
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 · uneditedCross-site scripting vulnerability (XSS) in the ASP function responsible for redirection in Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) 4.0, 5.0, and 5.1 allows remote attackers to embed a URL containing script in a redirection message.
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 · moderate confidenceCross-site scripting vulnerability in the ASP redirection function of Microsoft IIS 4.0, 5.0, and 5.1 allows remote attackers to inject malicious script into URLs that get reflected in redirection messages. This is a reflected XSS where the attacker's script is embedded within a redirection URL and executed in the victim's browser.
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= 4.0= 5.0CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:M/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check IIS installation statusOpen Registry Editor and navigate to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W3SVC\Parameters. Look for the MajorVersion value to confirm IIS is installed and obtain its version number.Affected if MajorVersion does not exist or is missing, indicating IIS is not installed.
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Determine installed IIS versionRead the MajorVersion DWORD value from HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W3SVC\Parameters. This decimal value represents the IIS version (4 for IIS 4.0, 5 for IIS 5.0/5.1).Affected if MajorVersion equals 4 (IIS 4.0) or 5 (IIS 5.0 or 5.1).
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Confirm exact IIS 5.x subversionCheck the Windows version. IIS 5.0 runs on Windows 2000. IIS 5.1 runs on Windows XP Professional. Alternatively, check the file version of w3svc.dll in %systemroot%\system32\inetsrv\.Affected if Running Windows 2000 with IIS (version 5) means IIS 5.0; running Windows XP Professional with IIS means IIS 5.1. Both are affected.
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Verify ASP is enabledCheck for the presence of ASP.dll in %systemroot%\system32\inetsrv\ or confirm ASP is allowed in IIS Manager under Web Service Extensions.Affected if ASP is installed and enabled, making the ASP redirection function available for exploitation.
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Test for reflective URL behaviorAttempt a request to an ASP page with a redirection parameter containing a test script payload (e.g., /redirect.asp?url=<script>alert(1)</script>) and observe if the script is reflected unsanitized in the response.Affected if The script payload is reflected and executed in the browser response, confirming the XSS vulnerability is present.
The environment is affected if IIS version 4.0, 5.0, or 5.1 is installed, ASP is enabled, and crafted redirection URLs can reflect malicious script content in the response.
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 dataApply the relevant Microsoft security patch for this vulnerability (MS03-018 or subsequent updates). For legacy systems running these very old IIS versions, strongly consider upgrading to a supported IIS version or migrating to modern web server platforms.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2003-0223 — 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-2003-0223 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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