CVE-2005-1184
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 TCP/IP stack in multiple operating systems allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) via a TCP packet with the correct sequence number but the wrong Acknowledgement number, which generates a large number of "keep alive" packets. NOTE: some followups indicate that this issue could not be replicated.
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 confidenceA vulnerability in the TCP/IP stack of multiple operating systems allows remote attackers to cause denial of service by sending TCP packets with the correct sequence number but incorrect acknowledgement number, triggering excessive keep-alive packet generation and CPU consumption.
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 dataall versions= datacenter_64-bit= enterprise= enterprise_64-bit= r2= standard= standard_64-bit= weball versions= 4.0all 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
- 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 the Windows versionRun 'winver' or check System Properties to determine the exact Windows version and build numberAffected if The system is running Windows 2000 (any version), Windows 2003 Server (any affected edition), Windows 98se, Windows NT 4.0, or Windows XP (any version)
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Verify TCP/IP stack is activeCheck network adapter status or run 'ipconfig /all' to confirm TCP/IP protocol is bound to a network adapterAffected if TCP/IP networking is enabled and the system can handle TCP connections
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Confirm network exposureCheck if the system has active network interfaces with IP addresses assignedAffected if The system is network-connected and can receive TCP packets from remote sources
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Review current patch stateRun 'systeminfo' or check Windows Update history for installed security updates related to May 2005Affected if No patches from May 2005 or later addressing TCP/IP stack vulnerabilities have been installed
A system is affected if it runs any of the listed Windows versions (2000, 98se, NT 4.0, XP, or 2003 Server) and has TCP/IP networking enabled, as the vulnerability lies in how the TCP/IP stack processes certain malformed packets with mismatched sequence/acknowledgment numbers.
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 vendor patches for the affected operating systems; implement network-level filtering or IDS rules to detect and block anomalous TCP packets with mismatched sequence/acknowledgement numbers.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 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 $5,600.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2005-1184 — 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-2005-1184 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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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