CVE-2005-2128
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 · uneditedQUARTZ.DLL in Microsoft Windows Media Player 9 allows remote attackers to write a null byte to arbitrary memory via an AVI file with a crafted strn element with a modified length value.
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 QUARTZ.DLL within Microsoft Windows Media Player 9 allows remote attackers to write a null byte to arbitrary memory locations by crafting a malicious AVI file with a modified strn element length value. This memory corruption could potentially be leveraged for arbitrary code execution.
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= 9CVSS 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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Determine Windows Media Player versionOpen Windows Media Player, go to Help > About Windows Media Player to view the installed version numberAffected if The version shown is exactly 9.0 (version 9)
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Check QUARTZ.DLL file versionLocate QUARTZ.DLL in the system (typically in System32 folder) and view its file properties to see the version informationAffected if The QUARTZ.DLL version corresponds to Windows Media Player 9 and has not been patched
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Verify AVI file handling capabilityConfirm that Windows Media Player is configured to handle AVI media files - check file type associations or try playing a standard AVI fileAffected if WMP 9 is set as the default handler for AVI files and can parse AVI containers
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Confirm vulnerability trigger conditionThe vulnerability requires parsing an AVI file with a specifically crafted strn element. Without processing such a malicious AVI file, the vulnerability cannot be triggered in WMP 9Affected if WMP version 9 is installed and the system processes an AVI file with a modified strn element length value
You are affected if Windows Media Player version 9 is installed and the QUARTZ.DLL component has not been patched, as this specific version is the only one listed as vulnerable to the AVI strn element memory corruption flaw.
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 dataAvoid opening untrusted or unverified AVI files from unknown sources. Apply available Microsoft security updates for Windows Media Player or consider using alternative media players that are not affected.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2005-2128 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
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