CVE-2013-7331
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 · uneditedThe Microsoft.XMLDOM ActiveX control in Microsoft Windows 8.1 and earlier allows remote attackers to determine the existence of local pathnames, UNC share pathnames, intranet hostnames, and intranet IP addresses by examining error codes, as demonstrated by a res:// URL, and exploited in the wild in February 2014.
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 confidenceThe Microsoft.XMLDOM ActiveX control in Windows 8.1 and earlier contains an information disclosure vulnerability where remote attackers can determine the existence of local pathnames, UNC share paths, intranet hostnames, and intranet IP addresses by examining error codes from res:// URL requests.
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= 6= 7= 8= 9= 10= 11CVSS 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
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:L
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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Determine Internet Explorer versionOpen Internet Explorer, click Help > About Internet Explorer to view the version number, or check via registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\VersionAffected if Version is 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11 (these are the affected versions per the CVE)
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Check Windows versionRun 'winver' command or check System properties to view Windows versionAffected if Windows 8.1 or earlier (the vulnerability affects Windows 8.1 and earlier per the CVE summary)
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Verify Microsoft.XMLDOM ActiveX control is enabledIn Internet Explorer, go to Tools > Internet Options > Security > Custom Level, or check registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ActiveXCache for related settingsAffected if The Microsoft.XMLDOM ActiveX control is allowed to run (vulnerability only applies when this ActiveX control is enabled)
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Confirm ActiveX controls are permitted in browserIn Internet Explorer, go to Tools > Internet Options > Security > Custom Level and check 'Run ActiveX controls and plugins' setting, or review group policy settings under Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Internet ExplorerAffected if ActiveX controls are set to Enable or Prompt (vulnerability requires ActiveX to be permitted)
You are affected if you are running Internet Explorer versions 6-11 on Windows 8.1 or earlier AND the Microsoft.XMLDOM ActiveX control is enabled in your browser settings.
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 available Microsoft updates, or disable the Microsoft.XMLDOM ActiveX control through Internet Explorer security settings, or upgrade to a supported Windows version.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-7331 — 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-2013-7331 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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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.
- 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