CVE-2010-1885

Severity: critical (CVSS 9.3 v2.0)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 71.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2010-06-14 · updated 2026-06-16
Weakness: CWE-78

Description

The MPC::HexToNum function in helpctr.exe in Microsoft Windows Help and Support Center in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 does not properly handle malformed escape sequences, which allows remote attackers to bypass the trusted documents whitelist (fromHCP option) and execute arbitrary commands via a crafted hcp:// URL, aka "Help Center URL Validation Vulnerability."

Affected products

Microsoft Windows 2003 Server: all versions
Microsoft Windows Server 2003: all versions
Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3: all versions

References

http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/fulldisclosure/2010-06/0197.html
http://blogs.technet.com/b/msrc/archive/2010/06/10/windows-help-vulnerability-disclosure.aspx
http://blogs.technet.com/b/srd/archive/2010/06/10/help-and-support-center-vulnerability-full-disclosure-posting.aspx
http://secunia.com/advisories/40076
http://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/13808
http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/578319
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/2219475.mspx
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/511774/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/511783/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/40725
http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1024084
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA10-194A.html

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