CVE-2008-1438
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 Malware Protection Engine (mpengine.dll) 1.1.3520.0 and 0.1.13.192, as used in multiple Microsoft products, allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (disk space exhaustion) via a file with "crafted data structures" that trigger the creation of large temporary files, a different vulnerability than CVE-2008-1437.
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 confidenceThe Microsoft Malware Protection Engine (mpengine.dll) contains an unspecified vulnerability in versions 1.1.3520.0 and 0.1.13.192 where scanning files with crafted data structures causes the engine to create excessively large temporary files, leading to disk space exhaustion and denial of service. This is a context-dependent vulnerability affecting multiple Microsoft security products that incorporate the malware scanning engine.
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 versionsall versions= 6.0all versionsall versionsall versions= 0.1.13.192= 1.1.3520.0all 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
- 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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Identify installed Microsoft security productsCheck Add/Remove Programs or list installed programs for: Microsoft Antigen, Forefront Client Security, Forefront Security, Windows Defender, or Microsoft Diagnostics And Recovery Toolkit (DaRT) version 6.0Affected if Any of these products are installed on the system
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Check Malware Protection Engine versionLocate mpengine.dll on the system (typically in program files under the security product directory) and check its file version property, or check the product's about/version informationAffected if The engine version is exactly 0.1.13.192 or exactly 1.1.3520.0
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Verify real-time scanning is enabledCheck the product's configuration settings to confirm real-time, on-access, or active scanning is turned onAffected if Real-time scanning is enabled and the vulnerable engine version is present
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Monitor temporary file growthInspect the system's temporary directories (especially those used by the security product) for unusually large files created during file scanning operationsAffected if Scanning creates temporary files that grow excessively large and consume disk space
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Review disk space for exhaustion patternsMonitor disk space usage on drives where the security product operates, particularly looking for rapid consumption during scanning activityAffected if Disk space becomes exhausted or abnormally consumed during file scanning operations
A system is affected if it runs any of the listed Microsoft security products with the vulnerable Malware Protection Engine version (0.1.13.192 or 1.1.3520.0) and has real-time scanning enabled, leading to excessive temporary file creation during scans.
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 updates for the Malware Protection Engine through Windows Update or manual patch deployment. Implement disk monitoring and temporary file size limits as a compensating control until patches can be applied.
- 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-2008-1438 — 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-2008-1438 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