# CVE-1999-0975: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can execute arbitrary commands as another user by manipulating Windows Help system metafiles, requiring user interaction to open the help file.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.6 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 4 Jan 2000
- **Updated:** 1 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-wm4h-9j53-mhpc

## What is CVE-1999-0975?

CVE-1999-0975 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 98, published on 4 Jan 2000. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

The Windows help system can allow a local user to execute commands as another user by editing a table of contents metafile with a .CNT extension and modifying the topic action to include the commands to be executed when the .hlp file is accessed.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-1999-0975?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows Nt.

## How do I fix CVE-1999-0975?

No fix has been published for CVE-1999-0975 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-1999-0975 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-1999-0975 exists.

Public exploit code:

- Microsoft Windows 95/98/NT 4.0 - Help File Backdoor (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows 98

- [CVE-1999-0387](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-0387/): Information disclosure in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2000-0330](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2000-0330/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.6)
- [CVE-1999-0518](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-0518/): Weak cryptography in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2000-0155](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2000-0155/): Code injection in n/a (high 7.2)
- [CVE-2000-0979](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2000-0979/): Auth bypass in n/a (medium 6.4)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-1999-0975 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-1999-0975 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 98, published on 4 Jan 2000. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-1999-0975 exists.

Affected product: Microsoft Windows 98. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-0975/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-0975/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-1999-0975
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-1999-0975
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-1999-0975

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-0975/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.