CVE-2010-5268
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 Amazon Kindle for PC 1.3.0 30884 allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse wintab32.dll file in the current working directory, as demonstrated by a directory that contains a .azw 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 confidenceAmazon Kindle for PC 1.3.0 loads the wintab32.dll library from the current working directory without validating the full path, allowing an attacker to place a malicious DLL in a directory containing .azw files. When a user opens or interacts with an .azw file in that directory, the application loads the attacker's DLL, executing arbitrary code with the application's privileges.
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= 1.3.0.30884CVSS 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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Identify installed Kindle for PC versionOpen Windows Control Panel > Programs and Features, or right-click the Kindle for PC executable in Program Files and select Properties > Details to view the version numberAffected if Version displayed is 1.3.0.30884 exactly
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Locate Kindle for PC executableFind the main executable (typically at C:\Program Files\Amazon\Kindle for PC\ Kindle.exe) and right-click to view Properties, or run 'Get-ItemProperty' in PowerShell on the executable pathAffected if Executable version resource shows 1.3.0.30884
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Check .azw file associationOpen a command prompt and run 'assoc .azw' or check Windows Registry under HKCR\.azw to see which application handles .azw filesAffected if The handler shows Amazon Kindle for PC and the associated application version is 1.3.0.30884
If the installed Amazon Kindle for PC version is exactly 1.3.0.30884, the application is vulnerable to DLL hijacking via wintab32.dll loaded from the current working directory when opening .azw 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 avoid opening .azw files from untrusted or shared directories. The vendor should implement secure DLL loading by using full absolute paths, safe search paths (SetDllDirectory), or explicit loading of verified DLLs to prevent hijacking.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation10.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-5268 — 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-2010-5268 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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