CVE-2013-1299
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 · uneditedMicrosoft Windows Modern Mail allows remote attackers to spoof link targets via a crafted HTML e-mail message.
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 · moderate confidenceMicrosoft Windows Modern Mail (the Windows 8 Mail application) fails to properly validate and display link destinations in HTML email messages, allowing attackers to craft emails where displayed links appear to point to a legitimate URL but the actual hyperlink directs users to a malicious site. This is a link spoofing vulnerability enabling phishing attacks.
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 dataall versionsCVSS 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
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N
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 if Windows 8 Mail app is installedCheck if the Windows Modern Mail application exists on the system. On Windows 8/8.1, look for the Mail tile in the Start screen or check Program Files for the Modern Mail app package.Affected if The Windows 8 Mail application is present on the system.
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Determine if HTML email rendering is enabledOpen the Mail app and navigate to Settings. Check the account settings for email display preferences to see if HTML rendering is enabled for incoming messages.Affected if HTML email rendering is enabled in the Mail app settings.
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Test link display behavior with a crafted HTML emailCreate or receive an HTML email containing a link where the visible text differs from the hyperlink destination (e.g., text shows 'https://www.microsoft.com' but href points to a different domain). Hover the mouse over the link and observe what URL is displayed.Affected if The displayed link text does not match the actual hyperlink destination shown on hover, indicating the spoofing vulnerability is present.
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Verify Windows version is Windows 8 or 8.1Check the Windows version by running 'winver' or viewing System Properties. Confirm the version is Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, or Windows 8.1.Affected if The system is running Windows 8 or 8.1 with the Modern Mail application installed.
The user is affected if they are running the Windows 8 Mail application on Windows 8/8.1 with HTML email rendering enabled, and the app displays mismatched link text versus actual hyperlink destinations.
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 dataApply Microsoft security patches for CVE-2013-1299 when available. Users should verify link destinations by hovering over links before clicking, and organizations should implement email filtering to detect HTML emails with mismatched link attributes.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-1299 — 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-2013-1299 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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