CVE-2003-0718
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 WebDAV Message Handler for Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0, 5.1, and 6.0 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory and CPU exhaustion, application crash) via a PROPFIND request with an XML message containing XML elements with a large number of attributes.
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 confidenceThe WebDAV Message Handler in IIS versions 5.0, 5.1, and 6.0 contains a vulnerability where specially crafted PROPFIND requests with XML messages containing elements with an excessive number of attributes can trigger memory exhaustion and CPU exhaustion, leading to IIS crash and denial of service.
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= 6.0= 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
- 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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Identify IIS versionOpen IIS Manager, right-click the local computer, select Properties, and check the version displayed. Alternatively, run 'iisweb.vbs /query' from the scripts folder or check the registry key 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\InetStp' for the VersionString value.Affected if The version is 5.0, 5.1, or 6.0 (these are the affected versions)
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Verify WebDAV is installedIn IIS Manager, expand the Web Service Extensions folder. Check if 'WebDAV' or 'WebDAV (HTTP Publishing)' appears as an allowed extension. On IIS 6.0, also check Add/Remove Windows Components under Application Server > IIS > World Wide Web Service > WebDAV Publishing.Affected if WebDAV is installed or available as a Web Service Extension
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Confirm WebDAV authoring is enabledFor IIS 6.0, open the properties of the website, go to the 'HTTP Headers' tab and check for 'Enable WebDAV' option. For IIS 5.x, check IIS Manager under the website for WebDAV authoring rules or permissions.Affected if WebDAV authoring features are enabled on the server
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Check for PROPFIND method availabilityOpen IIS Manager, select the website or specific folder, go to Properties > Home Directory > Configuration > Mappings. Check the script mappings to see if PROPFIND is listed, or use the command 'cscript adsutil.vbs get /W3SVC/1/AllowAnonymousAccess' combined with checking the IIS log files for PROPFIND requests.Affected if The server accepts and processes PROPFIND HTTP methods
The server is affected if it runs IIS 5.0, 5.1, or 6.0 AND has WebDAV enabled and configured to handle PROPFIND requests.
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 Microsoft's security patch for CVE-2003-0718. If running legacy IIS 5.x/6.0 systems that are no longer supported, consider migrating to supported IIS versions or modern web server platforms.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2003-0718 — 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-2003-0718 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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