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Windows Media PlayerApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2009-4309

HIGH · 9.3 CVSS v2.0 Published 2009-12-13
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Heap-based buffer overflow in the Intel Indeo41 codec for Windows Media Player in Microsoft Windows 2000 SP4, XP SP2 and SP3, and Server 2003 SP2 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a large size value in a movi record in an IV41 stream in a media file, as demonstrated by an AVI file.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-119

The program reads or writes outside the bounds of an allocated buffer, corrupting adjacent memory. With crafted input an attacker can overwrite control data and, with effort, redirect execution to their own code. Remediation ranges from bounds checking and safe library functions to compiler mitigations, usually alongside a careful audit of the surrounding code.

General guidance for the memory buffer bounds error class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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 Media PlayerApplication
Affected:all versions
Windows 2000Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 2003 ServerOperating 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
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

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 securitytracker.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

Apply Microsoft Security Update MS09-058 (or subsequent cumulative security update for Windows Media Player)

  1. Apply Microsoft Security Update MS09-058 (Windows Kernel Update) which addresses this Intel Indeo41 codec vulnerability
  2. Verify the update is installed by checking Windows Update history or reviewing installed updates
  3. Alternatively, disable the Intel Indeo41 codec by removing or renaming the file 'ir41_32.dll' in the Windows\System32 directory if the patch cannot be applied
  4. Ensure Windows Automatic Updates is enabled to receive future security patches
Caveat This is a critical security patch with no expected breaking changes; however, playback of legacy IV41-encoded media files may be affected if the codec is removed

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

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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-2009-4309 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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