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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.
DirectxApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2009-1537

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2009-05-29
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 Remotely reachable No privileges 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
Unspecified vulnerability in the QuickTime Movie Parser Filter in quartz.dll in DirectShow in Microsoft DirectX 7.0 through 9.0c on Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP2 and SP3, and Windows Server 2003 SP2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted QuickTime media file, as exploited in the wild in May 2009, aka "DirectX NULL Byte Overwrite 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

Memory corruption vulnerability in the QuickTime Movie Parser Filter (quartz.dll) within DirectShow/DirectX allows remote code execution through specially crafted QuickTime media files. The vulnerability involves a NULL byte overwrite, enabling attackers to execute arbitrary code by tricking users into opening malicious .mov files.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates (MS09-028) for affected DirectX versions, or migrate from legacy Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003 systems to supported Windows versions as these older operating systems are long past end-of-support.

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
DirectxApplication
Affected:= 7.0= 7.0a= 7.1= 8.1= 8.1b= 9.0= 9.0a= 9.0b= 9.0c
Windows 2000Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 2003 ServerOperating system
Affected:all versions
Windows Server 2003Operating 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
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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 the Windows operating system version
    Run 'winver' or check System Properties. The affected OS versions are Windows 2000 (all versions), Windows XP (all versions), Windows 2003 Server, and Windows Server 2003 (all versions).
    Affected if The system is running any version of Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003.
  2. Determine the installed DirectX version
    Run 'dxdiag' from the Run dialog and check the System tab for the DirectX Version. Affected DirectX versions are 7.0, 7.0a, 7.1, 8.1, 8.1b, 9.0, 9.0a, 9.0b, and 9.0c.
    Affected if The DirectX version is any of 7.0 through 9.0c inclusive.
  3. Verify the quartz.dll component exists
    Check for the presence of quartz.dll in the system. This file is typically located in the Windows\System32 folder. Use 'dir C:\Windows\System32\quartz.dll' or PowerShell 'Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\quartz.dll'.
    Affected if The quartz.dll file exists on the system, indicating the DirectShow QuickTime Parser Filter is installed.
  4. Confirm DirectShow is available
    Verify that DirectShow components are present. Run 'reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectShow"' or check if the system can play media files that would invoke the QuickTime parser.
    Affected if DirectShow is present and can parse QuickTime content, enabling the vulnerable code path.

A user is affected if they are running Windows 2000, XP, or Server 2003 with DirectX versions 7.0 through 9.0c, and the quartz.dll component exists to process QuickTime media files.

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 www.microsoft.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply Microsoft security updates (MS09-028) for affected DirectX versions, or migrate from legacy Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003 systems to supported Windows versions as these older operating systems are long past end-of-support.

Recommended fix High confidence

Windows XP users should upgrade to a supported operating system (Windows 7 or later); Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 users should upgrade to supported server versions as these operating systems are end-of-life

  1. Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-028 (DirectX 9.0c Security Update) or subsequent relevant security patches from Microsoft Update
Caveat Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 are end-of-life and no longer receive security updates; direct replacement may require hardware/environment changes

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

Fix this in Directx Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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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-2009-1537 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