CVE-2015-5474
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 · uneditedBitTorrent and uTorrent allow remote attackers to inject command line parameters and execute arbitrary commands via a crafted URL using the (1) bittorrent or (2) magnet protocol.
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 confidenceBitTorrent and uTorrent clients fail to properly sanitize input when processing bittorrent:// or magnet:// protocol URLs. Attackers can embed malicious command line parameters within crafted URLs that, when clicked by a victim, cause the client to execute arbitrary system commands with the privileges of the running user.
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 versionsall 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
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/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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Check if BitTorrent client is installedLook for bit.exe or Bittorrent.exe in common installation paths: %ProgramFiles%\BitTorrent, %AppData%\BitTorrent, or check registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for BitTorrent entriesAffected if BitTorrent client is found on the system
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Check if uTorrent client is installedLook for utorrent.exe in common installation paths: %ProgramFiles%\uTorrent, %AppData%\uTorrent, or check registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall for uTorrent entriesAffected if uTorrent client is found on the system
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Verify bittorrent:// protocol handler is registeredOn Windows, open regedit and check if HKCR\bittorrent\shell\open\command exists and points to the BitTorrent executable. On Linux, check ~/.local/share/applications for bittorrent .desktop filesAffected if The bittorrent:// protocol handler is registered in the system
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Verify magnet:// protocol handler is registeredOn Windows, check HKCR\magnet\shell\open\command exists and points to the BitTorrent/uTorrent executable. On Linux, check ~/.local/share/applications for magnet .desktop filesAffected if The magnet:// protocol handler is registered in the system
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Confirm protocol handlers are clickableAttempt to click on a bittorrent:// or magnet:// link in a browser or document, or inspect browser protocol handler settings to confirm the client will be launched when such links are clickedAffected if Clicking bittorrent:// or magnet:// links will launch the installed BitTorrent/uTorrent client
If either BitTorrent or uTorrent is installed with bittorrent:// or magnet:// protocol handlers registered and clickable, the system is affected by this vulnerability.
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 clicking on untrusted bittorrent:// or magnet:// links. Organizations may consider disabling protocol handlers or implementing application whitelisting to mitigate client-side risks until vendor patches are available.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-5474 — 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-2015-5474 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