CVE-2008-0066
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 · uneditedMultiple buffer overflows in htmsr.dll in the HTML speed reader in Autonomy (formerly Verity) KeyView, as used by IBM Lotus Notes 7.0.2 and 7.0.3, allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via an HTML document with (1) "large chunks of data," or a long URL in the (2) BACKGROUND attribute of a BODY element or (3) SRC attribute of an IMG element.
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 confidenceMultiple buffer overflow vulnerabilities exist in htmsr.dll (HTML speed reader) in Autonomy KeyView, as used by IBM Lotus Notes 7.0.2 and 7.0.3. Attackers can achieve remote code execution by crafting malicious HTML documents containing oversized data in the BODY element's BACKGROUND attribute or the IMG element's SRC attribute.
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 dataall versions= 7.0.2= 7.0.3CVSS 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
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:M/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 if IBM Lotus Notes is installedLook for IBM Lotus Notes installation directory, typically in C:\Program Files\IBM\Lotus\Notes or C:\Lotus\Notes. Alternatively, check Windows Registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Lotus\Notes or HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Lotus\Notes for the Notes installation path.Affected if IBM Lotus Notes is not installed on the system
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Verify the Lotus Notes versionCheck the version of the installed IBM Lotus Notes by examining the executable properties. Right-click on notes.exe in the installation directory and view the Details tab, or run 'notes.exe -version' from command line if supported. Compare against the affected versions 7.0.2 and 7.0.3.Affected if The installed version is exactly 7.0.2 or 7.0.3
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Confirm the vulnerable htmsr.dll component existsSearch for htmsr.dll within the Lotus Notes installation directory and subfolders, typically under the "notes\html" or "notes" directory. The file should exist if KeyView HTML speed reader functionality is present.Affected if htmsr.dll exists in the Lotus Notes installation path
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Determine if HTML preview or rendering is enabledIn Lotus Notes, go to File > Preferences > Trust Sites > External Links or check the Notes.ini configuration file for settings like "HTML_SR_Enable" or similar preview-related parameters. Also verify if the preview pane is active for HTML email attachments.Affected if HTML preview, rendering, or external content display is enabled in Lotus Notes settings
A user is affected if they have IBM Lotus Notes version 7.0.2 or 7.0.3 installed with the htmsr.dll component present and HTML preview/rendering functionality enabled.
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 dataApply the appropriate IBM Lotus Notes security patch for this vulnerability. Until patched, users should avoid opening untrusted HTML documents or disable HTML preview/rendering in Lotus Notes.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-0066 — 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-2008-0066 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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