CVE-2005-3663
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 · uneditedUnquoted Windows search path vulnerability in Kaspersky Anti-Virus 5.0 might allow local users to gain privileges via a malicious "program.exe" file in the C: 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 confidenceUnquoted Windows service path vulnerability in Kaspersky Anti-Virus 5.0. The antivirus service executable path is not properly quoted, allowing Windows to misinterpret paths with spaces. A local attacker can place a malicious 'program.exe' in the C: drive root, which Windows may execute with the antivirus service's elevated privileges instead of the intended executable.
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= 5.0CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
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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Verify Kaspersky Anti-Virus 5.0 is installedOpen Windows Registry and navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\KasperskyLab or check Programs and Features for 'Kaspersky Anti-Virus' version 5.0Affected if Kaspersky Anti-Virus version 5.0 is present on the system
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Identify the Kaspersky antivirus serviceOpen Services (services.msc) or run 'sc queryex type= service state= all' to list all services. Look for a service with 'Kaspersky' in the name, such as 'Kaspersky Anti-Virus Service' or similar.Affected if A Kaspersky-related Windows service exists on the system
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Check the service executable pathRun 'sc qc <service_name>' replacing <service_name> with the Kaspersky service found in the previous step. Note the BINPATH value which shows the executable path.Affected if The BINPATH displays a path to a Kaspersky executable, typically in Program Files
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Determine if the path is unquotedExamine the BINPATH from the previous step. If the path contains spaces (e.g., C:\Program Files\Kaspersky\...) and is not enclosed in quotation marks, it is unquoted.Affected if The BINPATH contains spaces and is NOT wrapped in double quotation marks (e.g., shows C:\Program Files\Kaspersky\... instead of "C:\Program Files\Kaspersky\...")
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Check for malicious executable in path intermediatesInspect the root of the drive mentioned in the unquoted path (e.g., C:\) for any executable named 'program.exe' or similar files that could be executed due to the unquoted path vulnerability.Affected if A malicious executable exists in an intermediate directory (like C:\program.exe) that could be launched due to the unquoted path
The system is affected if Kaspersky Anti-Virus 5.0 is installed, its Windows service has an unquoted executable path containing spaces, and a malicious program could be placed in an intermediate directory along that path.
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 dataConfigure the Kaspersky Anti-Virus service to use a quoted path for its executable, or reinstall the product to ensure proper path quoting in service configuration. This prevents Windows from searching for and executing malicious programs in intermediate path components.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2005-3663 — 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-2005-3663 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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