CVE-2006-3657
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 · uneditedMicrosoft Internet Explorer 6 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (stack overflow exception) via a DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Gradient ActiveX object with a long (1) StartColorStr or (2) EndColorStr property.
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 confidenceInternet Explorer 6 contains a stack overflow vulnerability in the DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Gradient ActiveX control. By supplying an excessively long string to the StartColorStr or EndColorStr properties, remote attackers can trigger a stack overflow exception, causing a denial of service.
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= 6CVSS 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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Confirm Internet Explorer 6 is installedOpen Internet Explorer, click Help > About Internet Explorer. Verify the version number displayed is 6.x (specifically version 6). Alternatively, check the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer for the Version value.Affected if The version shows 6.0 without any later service packs or updates applied.
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Verify the DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Gradient ActiveX control is presentOpen Internet Explorer, go to Tools > Manage Add-ons. Look for 'Microsoft.Gradient' or 'DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Gradient' in the list of ActiveX controls. Alternatively, check the registry under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Gradient to see if the control is registered.Affected if The ActiveX control appears in the add-on list or registry, indicating it is installed and available to IE.
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Confirm the ActiveX control is enabledIn Internet Explorer, go to Tools > Manage Add-ons. Verify that the Microsoft.Gradient control is set to 'Enabled' rather than 'Disabled' or 'Blocked'. Check if the kill bit is NOT set in the registry at HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{D0D9B0F4-3C8C-4A5C-B0A7-BFBC2BCE20A5} or similar CLSID for this control.Affected if The control is enabled and can be instantiated by web pages.
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Check if IE is configured to allow ActiveX controls to runIn Internet Explorer, go to Tools > Internet Options > Security > Custom Level. Look for the 'Run ActiveX controls and plugins' setting. Verify if it is set to Enable or Prompt.Affected if ActiveX controls are permitted to execute, making the vulnerable control reachable.
A user is affected if Internet Explorer version 6 is installed AND the DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Gradient ActiveX control is present, enabled, and permitted to run in the browser security zone.
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 from Internet Explorer 6 to a supported version, or disable the DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Gradient ActiveX control via registry settings or group policy. Microsoft likely released a patch for this vulnerability in 2006.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2006-3657 — 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-2006-3657 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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