# CVE-2011-1971: Denial of service in n/a

> Local attackers can cause a system reboot by tricking users into opening a crafted file, affecting Windows kernel metadata parsing.

- **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:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 10 Aug 2011
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-ppxr-222x-rcmp

## What is CVE-2011-1971?

CVE-2011-1971 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 7, published on 10 Aug 2011. 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 kernel in Microsoft Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 SP2, R2, and R2 SP1, and Windows 7 Gold and SP1 does not properly parse file metadata, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (reboot) via a crafted file, aka "Windows Kernel Metadata Parsing DOS Vulnerability."

Weakness: CWE-399

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2011-1971?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Microsoft Windows Vista.

## How do I fix CVE-2011-1971?

No fix has been published for CVE-2011-1971 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2011-1971 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2011-1971 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows 7

- [CVE-2015-1635](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1635/): Microsoft HTTP.sys Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2015-2360](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2360/): Microsoft Win32k Privilege Escalation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2014-6324](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-6324/): Microsoft Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC) Privilege Escalation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2014-6332](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-6332/): Microsoft Windows Object Linking & Embedding (OLE) Automation Array Remote Code Execution (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2014-4148](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-4148/): Microsoft Windows Remote Code Execution (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2011-1971 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2011-1971 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 7, published on 10 Aug 2011. 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: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2011-1971 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Microsoft Windows 7. 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-2011-1971/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-1971/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2011-1971
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2011-1971
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2011-1971

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-1971/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.