CVE-2004-0201
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 · uneditedHeap-based buffer overflow in the HtmlHelp program (hh.exe) in HTML Help for Microsoft Windows 98, Me, NT 4.0, 2000, XP, and Server 2003 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a .CHM file with a large length field, a different vulnerability than CVE-2003-1041.
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 analysisA detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.
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 versionsall versionsall versions= s3400all versions= enterprise= enterprise_64-bit= r2= standard= weball versionsall versionsCVSS 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
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
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.
dbcve · scopedUpgrade to a supported Windows version (Windows 10/11 or Windows Server 2016+) if the organization can tolerate the migration effort; these legacy OS versions (Windows 98, 2000, XP, Server 2003) are all end-of-life and no longer receive security updates
- Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-023 patch for HtmlHelp (hh.exe) heap overflow vulnerability. Download from Microsoft Update or the Microsoft Download Center for your specific Windows version.
- If Microsoft Update is unavailable for these legacy systems, manually download the patch from the Microsoft Security Bulletin MS04-023: http://www.microsoft.com/security/bulletin/ms04-023
- For Windows 2000: Install Security Update KB840987
- For Windows XP: Install Security Update KB840987
- For Windows Server 2003: Install Security Update KB840987
- After patching, verify HtmlHelp version reflects the patched build
- For Avaya products (Ip600 Media Servers, Definity One Media Server, S8100, Modular Messaging Message Storage Server), ensure the underlying Windows OS is patched, then reboot the system
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2004-0201 — 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-2004-0201 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data