CVE-2008-5424 Denial of service in n/a

Medium 4.3 Published 11 Dec 2008 Updated 7 Aug 2024

Remote attackers can cause a denial of service in Outlook Express via specially crafted large email messages triggering an infinite loop.

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: None listed

What is CVE-2008-5424?

CVE-2008-5424 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 11 Dec 2008. 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

The MimeOleClearDirtyTree function in InetComm.dll in Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.5512 does not properly handle (1) multipart/mixed e-mail messages with many MIME parts and possibly (2) e-mail messages with many "Content-type: message/rfc822;" headers, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop) via a large e-mail message, a related issue to CVE-2006-1173.

Weakness: CWE-399

Which versions are affected by CVE-2008-5424?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Microsoft Outlook Express.

How do I fix CVE-2008-5424?

No fix has been published for CVE-2008-5424 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2008-5424 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2008-5424 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as GHSA-phxj-wq6j-j348.