CVE-2003-0646
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 · uneditedMultiple buffer overflows in ActiveX controls used by Trend Micro HouseCall 5.5 and 5.7, and Damage Cleanup Server 1.0, allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via long parameter strings.
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 confidenceMultiple buffer overflow vulnerabilities exist in ActiveX controls used by Trend Micro HouseCall 5.5/5.7 and Damage Cleanup Server 1.0. Remote attackers can execute arbitrary code by sending specially crafted long parameter strings to these ActiveX controls, potentially taking complete control of affected systems.
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= 1.0= 5.5= 5.7CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Trend Micro productsOpen Control Panel > Programs and Features (or Add/Remove Programs on older systems) and look for Trend Micro HouseCall or Trend Micro Damage Cleanup Server entries. Note the exact version numbers displayed.Affected if The installed version is exactly 5.5 or 5.7 for HouseCall, or exactly 1.0 for Damage Cleanup Server.
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Check program directory for vulnerable componentsSearch the system for Trend Micro program folders (typically under C:\Program Files\Trend Micro or C:\Program Files (x86)\Trend Micro) and look for HouseCall or DCS directories. Check the version information of executable files within these folders.Affected if Executables or DLLs belonging to HouseCall 5.5, HouseCall 5.7, or Damage Cleanup Server 1.0 are found on the system.
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Identify registered ActiveX controlsOpen Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID looking for Trend Micro-related ActiveX control entries, or use the command 'regsvr32 /u' to list registered DLLs. The vulnerable controls would be ActiveX components used by these products.Affected if ActiveX controls associated with Trend Micro HouseCall 5.5/5.7 or Damage Cleanup Server 1.0 are registered on the system.
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Check browser add-on statusIn Internet Explorer, go to Tools > Manage Add-ons and look for Trend Micro ActiveX controls. In Firefox, check for Trend Micro extensions/plugins. These controls load when visiting malicious pages.Affected if Trend Micro ActiveX controls are enabled in any web browser on the system.
The system is affected if HouseCall version 5.5 or 5.7, or Damage Cleanup Server version 1.0 is installed, and the corresponding ActiveX controls are present and enabled.
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 vulnerable Trend Micro ActiveX controls until vendor patches can be applied. For legacy systems running HouseCall 5.5/5.7 or Damage Cleanup Server 1.0, evaluate upgrade paths to supported versions or implement compensating controls such as network segmentation and browser-based attack surface reduction.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2003-0646 — 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-2003-0646 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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