Description
The Winsock2ProtocolCatalogMutex mutex in Windows NT 4.0 has inappropriate Everyone/Full Control permissions, which allows local users to modify the permissions to "No Access" and disable Winsock network connectivity to cause a denial of service, aka the "Winsock Mutex" vulnerability.
Public exploits
Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.
Third-party code, not reviewed by us. Public PoCs are sometimes fake or contain malware. Read the code first and run it only in an isolated lab, against systems you are authorised to test.
Exploit-DB 1
- Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 - Networking Mutex Denial of Service EDB-20596 · dos · Jan 24, 2001 · verified
Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.
References
- 20010126 ntsecurity.nu advisory: Winsock Mutex Vulnerability in Windows NT 4.0 SP6 and below mailing-list
- MS01-003 vendor-advisory
- winnt-mutex-dos(6006) vdb-entry