CVE-2006-2385
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 · uneditedUnspecified vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 SP4 and 6 SP1 and earlier allows user-assisted remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted web page that triggers memory corruption when it is saved as a multipart HTML (.mht) file.
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 confidenceA memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 SP4 and 6 SP1 and earlier allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted webpage that triggers memory corruption when saved as a multipart HTML (.mht) file. The attack requires user-assisted interaction (saving the page).
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= 6.0= 5.01CVSS 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
- High
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:H/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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Check installed Internet Explorer versionOpen Internet Explorer, click Help > About Internet Explorer, or run 'reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer" /v Version'Affected if The version listed is 5.01 SP4 or 6.0 SP1 or earlier (versions 5.01 through 6.0 are affected)
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Confirm Windows version for IE baselineRun 'winver' or 'systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"' from command promptAffected if Windows ships with bundled IE; older Windows releases (Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP1 or earlier) typically include the vulnerable IE versions
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Verify .mht file association with Internet ExplorerRun 'assoc .mht' and check if it shows 'mhtmlfile' or inspect registry at 'HKCR\.mht' to see the (Default) valueAffected if The .mht extension is associated with Internet Explorer (mhtmlfile) - this is required for the exploit to trigger when a user saves a malicious page as .mht
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Check if MHT handling is default open actionRun 'ftype mhtmlfile' from elevated command prompt to see the executable bound to MHT filesAffected if The file type shows iexplore.exe as the handler, meaning IE will process MHT files when opened
A system is affected if it runs Internet Explorer 5.01 SP4 or 6.0 SP1 or earlier AND has .mht file associations enabled for IE processing, allowing the memory corruption to trigger when saving a crafted page as MHT format.
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 Internet Explorer to a patched version beyond 6 SP1, or migrate to a supported browser. As a workaround, disable MHT file handling associations in Windows.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 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-2006-2385 — 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-2006-2385 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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