Skip to content
Noroxi
NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

CVE-1999-0975: The Windows help system can allow a local user to execute commands as another user by editing a table of contents metafile with a .CNT exten

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 19/100)

  • Public proof-of-concept code exists (Exploit-DB); there is no record of exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 2.6% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 85.9% of all records.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.

Low priority for now. Update when a fix is released; follow the vendor's advisory.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

The Windows help system can allow a local user to execute commands as another user by editing a table of contents metafile with a .CNT extension and modifying the topic action to include the commands to be executed when the .hlp file is accessed.

MediumCVSS 4.6 · v2.0—Proof of concept No fix recorded
Published
Dec 10, 1999
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
2.6% · 85th percentile
CWE
—

Report tools

JSON

Action score

19

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
18 / 40 · 4.6 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
1 / 30 · 2.6%

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • Proof of concept exists, no weaponized module
  • No fixed version yet

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-1999-0975

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

One daily email digest (06:00 UTC); connect a webhook for KEV listings and weaponized exploits instantly.

Your free account also gets you

Running WordPress? Scan your site free with WP Lens

  • Stack alerts: add the products and versions you run, get the new CVEs that affect them
  • Uptime monitoring: 1 site, instant email when it goes down
  • Add your domain: subdomains and takeover risk scanned every week (1 domain)
  • 10 scans an hour on the security tools (3 a day without an account), an API key and MCP
  • All your scans in one panel: findings, what changed in the last scan, a report per domain or per client (PDF, share link)
All free tools

Sign up with email · Have an account? Sign in

Free account, no card. Unfollow any time.

Don't want an account? Get "Exploited this week" by email every MondayDon't want an account? RSS feed for microsoft records

Running WordPress? Scan your site free with WP Lens

Is your version affected? Check it

Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

We use this product, ask for help

Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
microsoftwindows 95
microsoftwindows 98
microsoftwindows nt

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • microsoft windows 95all versions
  • microsoft windows 98all versions
  • microsoft windows nt4.0

Same product

microsoft: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2000-0979File and Print Sharing service in Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me does not properly check the password for a file share, which allows
    48Plan
  • CVE-2000-0330The networking software in Windows 95 and Windows 98 allows remote attackers to execute commands via a long file name string, aka the "File
    35Monitor
  • CVE-2000-1039Various TCP/IP stacks and network applications allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service by flooding a target host with TCP connec
    34Monitor

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-1999-0749Aug 16, 1999 · Buffer overflow in Microsoft Telnet client in Windows 95 and Windows 98 via a malformed Telnet argument.
    12Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-1999-0387Nov 29, 1999 · A legacy credential caching mechanism used in Windows 95 and Windows 98 systems allows attackers to read plaintext network passwords.
    33Monitor
  • Later →CVE-1999-1104Dec 31, 1999 · Windows 95 uses weak encryption for the password list (.pwl) file used when password caching is enabled, which allows local users to gain pr
    18Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.

Exploit status

Proof of concept available

A public proof of concept or detection signature exists. Exploit knowledge is out there; don't delay patching.

Evidence

  • Exploit-DB entry ×1

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
SourceKindDate
Exploit-DB entrylocal1999-12-10

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

  1. First PoCsame day
  2. Published
  3. TodayNov 5, 2026+9828 d

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
P · data can be read
Integrity
P · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
P · the service can be disrupted
Attack complexity
Low
Confidentiality impact
P
Integrity impact
P
Availability impact
P

Weakness class (CWE)

—

CVSS vector

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Change log

No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.

References

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records