CVE-2010-5220
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 · uneditedUntrusted search path vulnerability in MEO Encryption Software 2.02 allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse dwmapi.dll file in the current working directory, as demonstrated by a directory that contains a .meo or .cry file. NOTE: some of these details are obtained from third party information.
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 confidenceMEO Encryption Software 2.02 is vulnerable to an untrusted search path (DLL hijacking) vulnerability. The application loads the dwmapi.dll library from the current working directory instead of a secure system path, allowing a local attacker to place a malicious DLL that will be executed with the application's privileges when a user opens a .meo or .cry file from a directory containing the trojan horse DLL.
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= 2.02CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/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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Confirm MEO Encryption Software versionCheck the installed version of MEO Encryption Software. On Windows, look in Add/Remove Programs, or check the program's properties via the Start menu or installation directory for version information.Affected if The installed version is 2.02 exactly.
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Locate the MEO program executableFind the MEO Encryption Software installation directory (commonly in Program Files). Identify the main executable (typically meo.exe or similar).Affected if The program executable exists on the system.
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Check dwmapi.dll loading behaviorAttempt to launch MEO from a directory that contains a test dwmapi.dll file, or use a process monitor tool (like Process Monitor) to observe which paths the application attempts to load dwmapi.dll from when opening a .meo or .cry file.Affected if The application loads dwmapi.dll from the current working directory rather than only from secure system paths.
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Verify .meo and .cry file associationsCheck if .meo and .cry file extensions are associated with MEO Encryption Software. This can be done via Default Programs in Windows or by checking the registry under HKCR\.meo and HKCR\.cry.Affected if These file types are associated with MEO Encryption Software, allowing the DLL hijacking attack vector.
A user is affected if MEO Encryption Software version 2.02 is installed and the application loads dwmapi.dll from the current working directory when opening .meo or .cry files.
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 dataUsers should not open encryption files from untrusted directories. The vendor should patch the application to use secure DLL loading mechanisms (e.g., absolute paths, SetDllDirectory, or DelayLoad) and avoid loading DLLs from the current working directory.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-5220 — 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-2010-5220 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
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