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Fencer Intel
critical 9.3

CVE-2010-1885 in the critical feed json

The MPC::HexToNum function in helpctr.exe in Microsoft Windows Help and Support Center in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 does not prope…

published 16y ago modified 4mo ago also EUVD-2010-1904

cvss
9.3
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
71.1%
EPSS 71.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 99.4%
public exploits
3
Metasploit and Exploit-DB

Summary

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."

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Timeline

  1. First public exploit (Metasploit exploit/windows/browser/ms10_042_helpctr_xss_cmd_exec)
  2. Published

Exploit prediction

71.15% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 99.4% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • Metasploit exploit/windows/browser/ms10_042_helpctr_xss_cmd_exec Microsoft Help Center XSS and Command Execution metasploit exploit, excellent rank, 2010-06-09
  • EDB-16545 Microsoft Help Center - Cross-Site Scripting / Command Execution (MS10-042) (Metasploit) remote, 2010-09-20
  • EDB-13808 Microsoft Windows Help Centre Handles - Malformed Escape Sequences Incorrectly (MS03-044) remote, 2010-06-10
  • securityfocus.com http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/40725 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • archives.neohapsis.com http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/fulldisclosure/2010-06/0197.html referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 9.3 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-78 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.