CVE-2004-1981
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 web interface for Crystal Reports allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (disk exhaustion) by repeatedly requesting reports without retrieving the associated image files, which are not cleared from the image file folder.
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 confidenceCrystal Reports web interface fails to automatically delete temporary image files generated for each report request. Remote attackers can repeatedly request reports without retrieving the associated images, causing these files to accumulate on disk until storage is exhausted, resulting in 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= 9= 10= 9= 10CVSS 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.
-
Identify installed Crystal Reports or Crystal Enterprise versionCheck the installed version of Crystal Reports or Crystal Enterprise in your environment. This is typically visible in Add/Remove Programs on Windows, or via the product's About or Version information in the application.Affected if The installed version is exactly 9 or exactly 10 for either Businessobjects Crystal Enterprise or Businessobjects Crystal Reports.
-
Determine if the web interface is enabledCheck whether the Crystal Reports web interface (CrystalEnterprise or Crystal Reports web viewer) is enabled and accessible in your environment. This is typically configured in the web server settings or the Crystal configuration.Affected if The web interface is enabled and exposed, allowing external or internal report requests.
-
Locate the temporary image file storage locationIdentify the directory where Crystal Reports stores temporary image files generated for web report requests. This is usually configured in the Crystal web server settings or the temp directory configuration.Affected if A directory exists where Crystal stores temporary image files for web report requests.
-
Check for accumulated temporary image filesExamine the temporary image file directory for a large number of image files that have not been automatically cleaned up. Count the files and note their ages.Affected if The directory contains a significant number of orphaned temporary image files, indicating automatic cleanup is not functioning.
-
Verify if automatic cleanup is configuredReview the Crystal Reports or Crystal Enterprise configuration to determine whether automatic cleanup of temporary image files after a timeout period is enabled and configured.Affected if Automatic cleanup of temporary image files is not enabled or not configured in the Crystal settings.
You are affected if you are running Crystal Enterprise 9 or 10, or Crystal Reports 9 or 10, with the web interface enabled, and automatic cleanup of temporary image files is not configured, resulting in accumulation of orphaned image files.
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 dataImplement automatic cleanup of temporary image files after a configurable timeout period, and/or add authentication and rate limiting to prevent unauthenticated bulk report requests.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2004-1981 — 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-2004-1981 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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.
- 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