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IeApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2004-0479

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2004-07-07
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
Internet Explorer 6 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via Javascript that creates a new popup window and disables the imagetoolbar functionality with a META tag, which triggers a null dereference.

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 confidence

Internet Explorer 6 contains a null pointer dereference vulnerability when JavaScript creates a popup window and uses a META tag to disable the imagetoolbar functionality, causing the browser to crash.

MitigationUpgrade from Internet Explorer 6 to a supported browser version, as IE6 is obsolete and no longer receives security updates.

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
IeApplication
Affected:= 6

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm Internet Explorer 6 is in use
    Open IE6 and check Help > About Internet Explorer, or run 'reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer" /v Version' in command prompt
    Affected if Version shows 6.0.x (any 6.x release)
  2. Verify JavaScript is enabled
    In IE6, go to Tools > Internet Options > Security > Custom Level > Script ActiveX controls and other scripting languages should be enabled
    Affected if JavaScript/JScript is enabled in the security zone used for browsing
  3. Identify vulnerable META tag usage in web content
    Search local HTML files or web applications for '<meta http-equiv="imagetoolbar" content="no">' used within JavaScript popup windows created via window.open()
    Affected if HTML content contains the imagetoolbar META tag in pages intended for popup windows

User is affected if running Internet Explorer 6 with JavaScript enabled while browsing web content that uses a META tag to disable imagetoolbar in a popup window, as this triggers the null pointer dereference crash.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade from Internet Explorer 6 to a supported browser version, as IE6 is obsolete and no longer receives security updates.

Fix this in Ie Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
4.0 hours of engineering $750
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2004-0479 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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