Windows 2003 ServerOperating system · Microsoft

CVE-2011-1284

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 2011-07-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges Zero-click

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
Integer overflow in the Client/Server Run-time Subsystem (aka CSRSS) in the Win32 subsystem in Microsoft Windows XP SP2 and SP3, Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows Vista SP1 and SP2, Windows Server 2008 Gold, SP2, R2, and R2 SP1, and Windows 7 Gold and SP1 allows local users to gain privileges or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted application that triggers an incorrect memory assignment for a user transaction, aka "CSRSS Local EOP SrvWriteConsoleOutput 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

Integer overflow in the Windows CSRSS (Client/Server Run-time Subsystem) allows local authenticated users to trigger incorrect memory assignment during user transactions, leading to memory corruption that can be exploited for local privilege escalation to SYSTEM level or cause denial of service.

MitigationApply Microsoft security patches for CVE-2011-1284 to all affected Windows systems. As this is a local privilege escalation vulnerability with CVSS 7.2, prioritize patching systems where untrusted users have local access.

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 2003 ServerOperating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 7Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows Server 2003Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows Server 2008Operating system
Affected:all versions= r2
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
Local
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:L/AC:L/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 checks

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

  1. Identify Windows version
    Run 'winver' or 'systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"' to determine the installed Windows version
    Affected if The version matches Windows 2003 Server, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 (any version including R2), Windows Vista, or Windows XP
  2. Verify patch status
    Check for installed security updates by running 'wmic qfe list' or reviewing installed updates in Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > View installed updates
    Affected if The security update for CVE-2011-1284 is NOT installed on the system
  3. Confirm user access context
    Review which user accounts have local logon rights using 'net user' or checking Local Users and Groups (lusrmgr.msc)
    Affected if Untrusted or low-privilege authenticated users have local access to the system
  4. Verify CSRSS component
    Confirm the CSRSS process is running as expected - open Task Manager, look for csrss.exe under System Idle Process, or run 'tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq csrss.exe"'
    Affected if CSRSS.exe is present and running (this is the component with the vulnerability; note that disabling CSRSS would crash the system)

The system is affected if it runs any of the listed Windows versions AND lacks the CVE-2011-1284 security patch, especially when untrusted users have local authenticated access.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Microsoft security patches for CVE-2011-1284 to all affected Windows systems. As this is a local privilege escalation vulnerability with CVSS 7.2, prioritize patching systems where untrusted users have local access.

Fix this in Windows 2003 Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,280
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2011-1284 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2011-1284 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