# CVE-2008-6819: Race condition in n/a

> Local attackers can crash the system via a race condition in win32k.sys message handling, affecting Windows Server 2003 and Vista.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.7 (`AV:L/AC:M/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:** 1 Jun 2009
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-x7p2-h34x-gw97

## What is CVE-2008-6819?

CVE-2008-6819 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 2003 Server, published on 1 Jun 2009. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

win32k.sys in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Vista allows local users to cause a denial of service (system crash) via vectors related to CreateWindow, TranslateMessage, and DispatchMessage, possibly a race condition between threads, a different vulnerability than CVE-2008-1084.  NOTE: some of these details are obtained from third party information.

Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2008-6819?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Microsoft Windows 2003 Server, Microsoft Windows Vista.

## How do I fix CVE-2008-6819?

No fix has been published for CVE-2008-6819 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2008-6819 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2008-6819 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows 2003 Server

- [CVE-2008-0015](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-0015/): Microsoft Windows Video ActiveX Control Remote Code Execution (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2015-1701](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1701/): Microsoft Win32k Privilege Escalation (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-5065](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-5065/): Microsoft Windows Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2011-1268](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-1268/): Code injection in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2011-1868](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-1868/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2008-6819 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2008-6819 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 2003 Server, published on 1 Jun 2009. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2008-6819 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Microsoft Windows 2003 Server. 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-2008-6819/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-6819/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2008-6819
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2008-6819
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2008-6819

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-6819/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.