# CVE-2005-3981: Denial of service in n/a

> Local users can terminate writable processes via CreateRemoteThread, causing denial of service, though the issue is disputed as a privilege misuse.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.9 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 4 Dec 2005
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-q98m-jc54-9j83

## What is CVE-2005-3981?

CVE-2005-3981 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 2000, published on 4 Dec 2005. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

NOTE: this issue has been disputed by third parties.  Microsoft Windows XP, 2000, and 2003 allows local users to kill a writable process by using the CreateRemoteThread function with certain arguments on a process that has been opened using the OpenProcess function, possibly involving an invalid address for the start routine. NOTE: followup posts have disputed this issue, saying that if a user already has privileges to write to a process, then other functions could be called or the process could be terminated using PROCESS_TERMINATE

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2005-3981?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows 2003 Server, Microsoft Windows Xp.

## How do I fix CVE-2005-3981?

No fix has been published for CVE-2005-3981 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2005-3981 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2005-3981 exists.

Public exploit code:

- Microsoft Windows XP/2000/2003 - CreateRemoteThread Local Denial of Service (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows 2000

- [CVE-2008-4250](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-4250/): Microsoft Windows Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2010-0232](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-0232/): Microsoft Windows Kernel Exception Handler (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2009-1123](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-1123/): Microsoft Windows Improper Input Validation (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2002-0367](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-0367/): Microsoft Windows Privilege Escalation (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2010-0269](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-0269/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2005-3981 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2005-3981 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 2000, published on 4 Dec 2005. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2005-3981 exists.

Affected product: Microsoft Windows 2000. 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-2005-3981/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2005-3981/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2005-3981
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2005-3981
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2005-3981

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2005-3981/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.