Vulnerability record · CVE-2003-0838 · published 17 November 2003
CVE-2003-0838: Microsoft ie vulnerability
Microsoft · Ie
Internet Explorer allows remote attackers to bypass zone restrictions to inject and execute arbitrary programs by creating a popup window and inserting ActiveX object code with a "data" tag pointing to the malicious code, which Internet Explorer treats as HTML or Javascript, but later executes as an HTA application, a different vulnerability than CVE-2003-0532, and as exploited using the QHosts Trojan horse (aka Trojan.Qhosts, QHosts-1, VBS.QHOSTS, or aolfix.exe).
Description
Internet Explorer allows remote attackers to bypass zone restrictions to inject and execute arbitrary programs by creating a popup window and inserting ActiveX object code with a "data" tag pointing to the malicious code, which Internet Explorer treats as HTML or Javascript, but later executes as an HTA application, a different vulnerability than CVE-2003-0532, and as exploited using the QHosts Trojan horse (aka Trojan.Qhosts, QHosts-1, VBS.QHOSTS, or aolfix.exe).
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
Affected products
2 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.
References
Track CVE-2003-0838 inside VULONE
Watch it alongside the ransomware crews, C2 infrastructure and forum chatter that reference it, query it through the API and pull it into your SIEM over TAXII.
Related vulnerabilities
Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.
Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2003-0838), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-27). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.
