CVE-2008-0088
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 Active Directory on Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003, and Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM) on XP and Server 2003, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (hang and restart) via a crafted LDAP request.
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 confidenceVulnerability in Active Directory and ADAM on Windows 2000, Server 2003, and XP allows remote attackers to cause denial of service via crafted LDAP requests, resulting in system hang and restart.
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= sp1= sp2all versionsCVSS 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
- Single
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:N/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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Identify Windows versionRun 'winver' or check system properties to determine the exact Windows version and service pack levelAffected if The system is running Windows 2000 (any version), Windows Server 2003 SP1 or SP2, or Windows XP (any version)
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Check if Active Directory is installedOn domain controllers, verify AD is present by checking for the presence of the Ntds.dit file in %SystemRoot%\NTDS or run 'dsquery server' if the RSAT tools are installedAffected if The system is a Windows 2000/2003/XP domain controller with Active Directory installed and the version matches affected ranges
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Check if ADAM is installedLook for ADAM in Add/Remove Programs under Windows Components, or check for the presence ofadam.exe in %SystemRoot%\ADAM, or verify the 'ADAM' service exists in services.mscAffected if ADAM (Active Directory Application Mode) is installed on the system regardless of Windows version
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Verify LDAP service is runningCheck that the 'Active Directory Domain Services' or 'ADAM' service is in a Running state, and verify LDAP ports (389, 636) are listening using 'netstat -an | findstr :389'Affected if The LDAP service is enabled and listening for LDAP connections
A system is affected if it runs a vulnerable Windows version (2000, XP, or Server 2003 SP1/SP2) AND has Active Directory or ADAM installed with LDAP services enabled, making it reachable to crafted LDAP requests.
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 Microsoft security patches from 2008 for this vulnerability; if patches are unavailable due to end-of-life status, migrate to supported Windows Server versions.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2008-0088 — 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-2008-0088 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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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- 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