# CVE-2004-2434: Null dereference in n/a

> Remote attackers can crash Internet Explorer by tricking users into saving a malicious link, causing a null dereference during error message generation.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 18 Aug 2005
- **Updated:** 8 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-mvm2-v72c-76wc

## What is CVE-2004-2434?

CVE-2004-2434 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Ie, published on 18 Aug 2005. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (browser crash) via a link with "::{" (colon colon left brace), which triggers a null dereference when the user attempts to save the link using "Save As" and Internet Explorer prepares an error message with an attacker-controlled format string.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2004-2434?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Microsoft Ie.

## How do I fix CVE-2004-2434?

No fix has been published for CVE-2004-2434 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2004-2434 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2004-2434 exists.

Public exploit code:

- Microsoft Internet Explorer - 'mshtml.dll' Remote Null Pointer Crash (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in Microsoft Ie

- [CVE-2007-0217](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-0217/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2007-0219](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-0219/): Code injection in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2006-1186](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2006-1186/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2004-0985](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-0985/): Code injection in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2004-0216](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-0216/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2004-2434 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2004-2434 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Ie, published on 18 Aug 2005. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, 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-2004-2434 exists.

Affected product: Microsoft Ie. 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-2004-2434/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-2434/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2004-2434
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2004-2434
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2004-2434

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2004-2434/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.