CVE-2006-2386
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 Outlook Express 6 and earlier allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted contact record in a Windows Address Book (WAB) 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 · moderate confidenceMicrosoft Outlook Express 6 and earlier contains an unspecified vulnerability that allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by tricking users into opening a crafted Windows Address Book (WAB) file containing a malicious contact record.
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= 5.5= 6.0CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/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 Outlook Express versionOpen Outlook Express, go to Help > About, or check the file version of msimn.exe in the Outlook Express installation folder (typically C:\Program Files\Outlook Express or C:\Program Files (x86)\Outlook Express)Affected if The version shown is 5.5 or 6.0 exactly
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Verify WAB file handler existsCheck for the presence of wab.exe or wab32.dll in the Windows system directory (C:\Windows\System32 or C:\Windows\SysWOW64), or check the registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.wab to confirm the WAB file extension is registeredAffected if The WAB file handler (wab.exe or wab32.dll) is present and the .wab extension is registered
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Confirm Outlook Express WAB integrationCheck if Outlook Express is configured to use the Windows Address Book by examining if WAB files can be imported/opened within the application, or verify the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WAB\WAB4\WabFileClassName existsAffected if Outlook Express has WAB integration enabled and can open WAB files
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Check for legacy Outlook Express installationSearch the filesystem for the Outlook Express executable (msimn.exe) in Program Files directories, or check Add/Remove Programs for Outlook Express installationAffected if Outlook Express 5.5 or 6.0 is installed on the system
You are affected if Outlook Express version 5.5 or 6.0 is installed AND the system has WAB file handling capabilities enabled, allowing malicious WAB files to be processed.
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 dataUpdate to a supported version of Outlook Express or migrate to a modern email client. Users should not open untrusted WAB files. Consider removing legacy Outlook Express installations from systems.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2006-2386 — 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-2006-2386 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