CVE-2006-2055
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 · uneditedArgument injection vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook 2003 SP1 allows user-assisted remote attackers to modify command line arguments to an invoked mail client via " (double quote) characters in a mailto: scheme handler, as demonstrated by launching Microsoft Outlook with an arbitrary filename as an attachment. NOTE: it is not clear whether this issue is implementation-specific or a problem in the Microsoft API.
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 confidenceArgument injection vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook 2003 SP1 mailto: scheme handler allows remote attackers to inject or modify command line arguments via double quote characters in mailto: URLs, potentially launching Outlook with arbitrary filenames as attachments.
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= 2003CVSS 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
- Partial
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N
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 Microsoft Outlook 2003 is installedOpen Outlook and go to Help > About Microsoft Outlook, or check the Windows registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\InstallRoot to confirm version 2003Affected if The installed version is Microsoft Outlook 2003 (version 11.x)
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Confirm mailto: protocol handler is registeredCheck Windows registry for the mailto: handler at HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\shell\open\commandAffected if The mailto: protocol handler entry exists in the Windows registry and points to the Outlook executable
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Verify Outlook is configured as default mail clientCheck if Outlook is set as the default mail handler in Windows Control Panel > Default Programs > Set Associations, or attempt to open a mailto: link and observe if Outlook launchesAffected if Outlook is registered as the default handler for mailto: URLs in the Windows system
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Check for Outlook security update KB911801Open Windows Update or check Add/Remove Programs for installed updates; look for security update KB911801 or laterAffected if Security update KB911801 is NOT installed, indicating the vulnerability patch is missing
The environment is affected if Microsoft Outlook 2003 is installed with the mailto: scheme handler enabled and the security patch KB911801 has not been applied.
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 dataUpgrade to a supported version of Microsoft Outlook or apply available Microsoft security patches; exercise caution with mailto: links from untrusted sources.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2006-2055 — 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-2006-2055 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data