CVE-2005-2087
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 · uneditedInternet Explorer 5.01 SP4 up to 6 on various Windows operating systems, including IE 6.0.2900.2180 on Windows XP, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a web page with embedded CLSIDs that reference certain COM objects that are not ActiveX controls, as demonstrated using the JVIEW Profiler (Javaprxy.dll). NOTE: the researcher says that the vendor could not reproduce this problem.
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 confidenceInternet Explorer can instantiate certain COM objects (like Javaprxy.dll via embedded CLSIDs) that are not intended to be ActiveX controls, leading to application crashes and potentially arbitrary code execution. This is an unsafe COM object instantiation vulnerability in legacy IE versions.
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= 5.1= 5.2.3= 6= 5.1= 5.01= 5.5= 6.0= 6.0.2900.2180CVSS 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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Check if Internet Explorer is installedOpen Registry Editor and navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer, or run: reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer"Affected if The registry key does not exist, meaning IE is not installed on the system.
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Retrieve the installed Internet Explorer versionIn the same registry location, check the "Version" value, or in Internet Explorer go to Help > About Internet Explorer to view the version number.Affected if The version value is missing or cannot be determined.
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Compare the installed version against affected rangesCompare your retrieved version to: 5.01, 5.1, 5.2.3, 5.5, 6.0, or 6.0.2900.2180. Exact matches to any of these versions indicate vulnerability.Affected if The installed version exactly matches any of: 5.01, 5.1, 5.2.3, 5.5, 6.0, or 6.0.2900.2180.
If Internet Explorer is installed and the version matches 5.01, 5.1, 5.2.3, 5.5, 6.0, or 6.0.2900.2180, the environment is vulnerable to unsafe COM object instantiation.
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 dataThe affected systems (Windows XP, IE 6) are end-of-life and no longer receive security updates. Migration to supported Windows versions and modern browsers (Edge, Chrome, Firefox) is the only reliable remediation. Avoid visiting untrusted websites on legacy systems.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2005-2087 — 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 sources- secunia.com
- www.vupen.com
- marc.info
- securitytracker.com
- www.auscert.org.au
- www.kb.cert.org
- www.kb.cert.org
- www.microsoft.com
- www.osvdb.org
- www.securityfocus.com
- www.securityfocus.com
- www.us-cert.gov
- docs.microsoft.com
- exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com
- oval.cisecurity.org
- oval.cisecurity.org
- oval.cisecurity.org
- oval.cisecurity.org
- nvd.nist.gov
Practitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2005-2087 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