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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 3 Jun 2026.
Windows 2000Operating system · Microsoft

CVE-2008-4250

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2008-10-23
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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 · unedited
The Server service in Microsoft Windows 2000 SP4, XP SP2 and SP3, Server 2003 SP1 and SP2, Vista Gold and SP1, Server 2008, and 7 Pre-Beta allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted RPC request that triggers the overflow during path canonicalization, as exploited in the wild by Gimmiv.A in October 2008, aka "Server Service Vulnerability."

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 confidence

CVE-2008-4250 is a critical remote code execution vulnerability in the Windows Server service (srv.sys) caused by an overflow during path canonicalization when processing crafted RPC requests. The vulnerability affected Windows 2000 through Windows 7 Pre-Beta and was actively exploited in the wild by the Gimmiv.A worm in October 2008, making it a high-priority legacy vulnerability.

MitigationApply Microsoft security update MS08-067 (or subsequent superseded patches) to all affected Windows systems. As interim workarounds, disable the Server service (impacting SMB sharing), block RPC/TCP ports 139 and 445 at the perimeter firewall, or implement network segmentation to isolate vulnerable hosts.

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
Windows 2000Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows Server 2003Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows Server 2008Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows VistaOperating system
Affected:all versions
Windows XpOperating system
Affected:all versions

CVSS 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
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Windows version
    Check the system properties or use the command 'winver' to determine the installed Windows version.
    Affected if The installed version is Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, or Windows XP.
  2. Verify Server service status
    Use the command 'sc query server' to check if the Server service is running.
    Affected if The Server service is running on an affected Windows version.
  3. Check for RPC request handling
    Review system configurations or documentation to confirm if the system is configured to handle RPC requests.
    Affected if The system is configured to handle RPC requests and is running an affected Windows version.

You are affected if you are running an unsupported version of Windows with the Server service enabled and configured for RPC requests.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch secunia.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply Microsoft security update MS08-067 (or subsequent superseded patches) to all affected Windows systems. As interim workarounds, disable the Server service (impacting SMB sharing), block RPC/TCP ports 139 and 445 at the perimeter firewall, or implement network segmentation to isolate vulnerable hosts.

Recommended fix High confidence

If the operating system is end-of-life (Windows 2000, XP without SP3, Server 2003 SP1), upgrade to a supported Windows release such as Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016/2019/2022

  1. Verify the current patch status by checking if Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-067 (KB958644) is installed on the affected system
  2. For Windows Update-connected systems: Navigate to Control Panel > Windows Update and check for available security updates; install any pending updates
  3. For manual installation: Download MS08-067 security update from Microsoft's official Security Bulletin MS08-067 (https://technet.microsoft.com/security/bulletin/MS08-067)
  4. For enterprise environments: Deploy KB958644 via WSUS, SCCM, or group policy to all affected machines
  5. After patching, verify successful installation by checking Add/Remove Programs for Security Update for Windows (KB958644)
  6. Alternatively, enable the workaround by disabling SMBv1 via registry: Set HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters\SMB1 = 0 (requires restart)
  7. Apply network-level mitigations: block RPC/TCP port 445 at perimeter firewalls for untrusted networks
Caveat SMBv1 disabled as a workaround may affect legacy applications relying on SMB protocol; test thoroughly before production deployment. Note that affected OS versions (2000, XP, 2003) are end-of-life and no longer receive security updates.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Windows 2000 Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2008-4250 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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