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."
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2010-1885 is rated High Exploit Risk (88.1/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 92.20%, 100th percentile). Core evidence: 4 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +1.00% 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.
| EDB-ID | Source | Kind | Published | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16545 | exploit_db | edb | 2010-09-20 | Exploit-DB ↗ |
| 13808 | exploit_db | edb | 2010-06-10 | Exploit-DB ↗ |
| — | nvd_ref | exploit_tag | Exploit-DB ↗ | |
| — | nvd_ref | exploit_tag | Exploit-DB ↗ |
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 | 2026-03-15 | 91.20% | 92.20% | +1.00% |
| 2 | 2025-12-28 | 91.47% | 91.20% | -0.27% |
| 3 | 2025-12-27 | — | 91.47% | — |
Full EPSS history (16 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9.3 | 2.0 | HIGH |
|
8.6 | 10.0 | [email protected] |
: Per: http://blogs.technet.com/b/msrc/archive/2010/06/10/windows-help-vulnerability-disclosure.aspx "customers running Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2, are not vulnerable to this issue, or at risk of attack."
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| microsoft | windows_2003_server | — | cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_2003_server:*:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| microsoft | windows_2003_server | — | cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_2003_server:*:sp2:itanium:*:*:*:*:* |
| microsoft | windows_server_2003 | — | cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_server_2003:*:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| microsoft | windows_xp | — | cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_xp:*:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| microsoft | windows_xp | — | cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_xp:*:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| microsoft | windows_xp | — | cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows_xp:-:sp2:x64:*:*:*:*:* |