CVE-2003-0227
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 · uneditedThe logging capability for unicast and multicast transmissions in the ISAPI extension for Microsoft Windows Media Services in Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 and 2000, nsiislog.dll, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service in Internet Information Server (IIS) and execute arbitrary code via a certain network request.
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 confidenceThe nsiislog.dll ISAPI extension for Windows Media Services logging contains a vulnerability in handling unicast/multicast transmission requests that allows remote attackers to cause denial of service and potentially execute arbitrary code via crafted network requests to IIS.
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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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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Locate the nsiislog.dll file on the systemSearch the file system for nsiislog.dll, typically found in the Windows Media Services components folder (e.g., %SystemRoot%\system32\ or %ProgramFiles%\Windows Media\). Use File Explorer search or command: dir /s nsiislog.dllAffected if The file exists on the system
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Verify if the DLL is registered as an ISAPI extension in IISOpen IIS Manager, navigate to the web server, select 'ISAPI Filters' and 'ISAPI Extensions' nodes, or inspect the IIS metabase ( metabas.xml ) for entries referencing nsiislog.dllAffected if The DLL is registered and enabled as an ISAPI extension
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Confirm the operating system versionRun 'winver' or check System Properties to identify the Windows version. For command-line: systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"Affected if The system is Windows 2000 (any version) or Windows NT 4.0
A system is affected if it runs Windows 2000 or NT 4.0 AND has the nsiislog.dll ISAPI extension present and enabled in IIS.
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 dataDisable or remove the nsiislog.dll ISAPI extension from IIS, or migrate away from the affected Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 systems which are long past end-of-support.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2003-0227 — 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-2003-0227 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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