CVE-2006-6133: Crystal Reports RPT file stack buffer overflow in Visual Studio

Automated analysis

Generated by VULONE's analysis model from the NVD record, CISA KEV and EPSS data on 20 September 2026. Confidence: medium.

high priorityThe flaw allows remote code execution with complete impact and has a high EPSS score, though it requires user interaction and a vendor patch has existed since 2007.

What it is

A stack-based buffer overflow exists in the Crystal Reports component shipped with Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2002, 2003, and 2005 (including SP1 releases), formerly Business Objects Crystal Reports XI Professional. Opening a crafted RPT report file can overwrite stack memory and allow arbitrary code execution in the context of the user who opens it.

Impact

An attacker who gets a victim to open a malicious RPT file can execute arbitrary code with the victim's privileges, giving full control of confidentiality, integrity, and availability on that host.

Attack surface

The flaw is reached remotely by delivering a crafted RPT file, but exploitation requires user interaction because the victim must open the file. No authentication is needed on the target system; the CVSS vector AV:N/AC:H/Au:N reflects network delivery with high attack complexity.

Exploitation

The record shows no CISA KEV listing and no documented ransomware use, but EPSS is high at roughly 0.52 (98.9th percentile), indicating elevated predicted exploitation activity. Reference tags are vendor advisories, a US-CERT alert, and the MS07-052 bulletin, with no public exploit tag supplied.

What to do

• Apply Microsoft security bulletin MS07-052 (the vendor fix for this Crystal Reports issue) to affected Visual Studio .NET 2002, 2003, and 2005 installations.
• Treat RPT files from untrusted or external sources as executable content; block or quarantine them at email and web gateways.
• Restrict which users can open report files and remove or disable the Crystal Reports designer component where it is not required.
• Run affected report-processing hosts with least privilege so code execution does not inherit administrative rights.

Detection

• Monitor for Crystal Reports or Visual Studio processes spawning unexpected child processes such as cmd.exe or powershell.exe after an RPT file is opened.
• Alert on RPT file attachments or downloads arriving from external senders or untrusted sites.
• Hunt for crashes or abnormal termination of Crystal Reports/Visual Studio processes correlated with recently opened RPT files.
• Review endpoint logs for suspicious file writes or network connections originating from report-processing applications.

This assessment is produced automatically and is not human-reviewed. Verify against the vendor advisory before acting on it.