CVE-2006-6696

Exp

Double free vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, 2003, and Vista allows local users to gain privileges by calling the MessageBox function with a MB_SERVICE_NOTIFICATION message with crafted data, which sends a HardError message to Client/Server Runtime Server Subsystem (CSRSS) process, which is not properly handled when invoking the UserHardError and GetHardErrorText functions in WINSRV.DLL.

Published: 2006-12-22 Last update: 2026-04-23 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2006-6696 is rated High Exploit Risk (75.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 5.38%, 90th percentile). Core evidence: 2 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +1.06% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2006-6696

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
3024 exploit_db edb 2006-12-27 Exploit-DB ↗
2967 exploit_db edb 2006-12-20 Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2006-6696

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-05-04 4.32% 5.38% +1.06%
2 2025-12-28 8.92% 4.32% -4.60%
3 2025-12-27 8.92%

Full EPSS history (18 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2006-6696

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.9 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
3.4 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2006-6696

OS Trackers for CVE-2006-6696

vendor priority summary link
alpine CVE-2006-6696: no source package rows; 0 state rows across 0 repos (none); fixed 0, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2006-6696

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2006-6696

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
microsoft windows_2000 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_2000:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_2000 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_2000:*:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_2000 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_2000:*:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_2000 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_2000:*:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_2000 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_2000:*:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_2003_server datacenter_edition cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_2003_server:datacenter_edition:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_2003_server datacenter_edition cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_2003_server:datacenter_edition:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_2003_server datacenter_edition cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_2003_server:datacenter_edition:sp1_beta_1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_2003_server enterprise_edition cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_2003_server:enterprise_edition:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_2003_server enterprise_edition cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_2003_server:enterprise_edition:sp1_beta_1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_2003_server sp1 cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_2003_server:sp1:*:enterprise:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_2003_server standard cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_2003_server:standard:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_2003_server standard cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_2003_server:standard:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_2003_server standard cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_2003_server:standard:sp1_beta_1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_2003_server web cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_2003_server:web:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_2003_server web cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_2003_server:web:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_2003_server web cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_2003_server:web:sp1_beta_1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_vista cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_vista:*:*:december_ctp:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_vista cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_vista:*:beta:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_vista cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_vista:*:beta1:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_vista cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_vista:*:beta2:*:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_xp cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_xp:*:*:home:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_xp cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_xp:*:*:media_center:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_xp cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_xp:*:gold:professional:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_xp cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_xp:*:sp1:home:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_xp cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_xp:*:sp1:media_center:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_xp cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_xp:*:sp2:home:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_xp cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_xp:*:sp2:media_center:*:*:*:*:*
microsoft windows_xp cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_xp:*:sp2:tablet_pc:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2006-6696

URL Tags
http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2006/12/22/new-report-of-a-windows-vulnerability.aspx
http://groups.google.ca/group/microsoft.public.win32.programmer.kernel/browse_thread/thread/c5946bf40f227058/7bd7b5d66a4e5aff
http://isc.sans.org/diary.php?n&storyid=1965
http://lists.grok.org.uk/pipermail/full-disclosure/2006-December/051394.html
http://research.eeye.com/html/alerts/zeroday/20061215.html
http://secunia.com/advisories/23448 Vendor Advisory
http://securitytracker.com/id?1017433
http://www.determina.com/security.research/vulnerabilities/csrss-harderror.html
http://www.kuban.ru/forum_new/forum2/files/19124.html
http://www.security.nnov.ru/Gnews944.html
http://www.security.nnov.ru/files/messagebox.c
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/455061/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/455088/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/455104/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/455158/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/455546/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/466331/100/200/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/21688
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/23324
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2006/5120
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2007/1325
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2007/ms07-021
https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A1816
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