Cybersecurity professionals consider CVE-2009-0901 an immediate threat requiring urgent mitigation.
Status: Modified
Last updated: 🕚 16 Jun 2026, 23:06 UTC
Originally published on: 🕠 29 Jul 2009, 17:30 UTC
Time between publication and last update: 6166 days
CVSS Release: version 3
134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
Secondary
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVE-2009-0901: The Active Template Library (ATL) in Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 SP1, Visual Studio 2005 SP1 and 2008 Gold, and Visual C++ 2005 SP1 and 2008 Gold and SP1; and Windows 2000 SP4, XP SP2 and SP3, Server 2003 SP2, Vista Gold, SP1, and SP2, and Server 2008 Gold and SP2; does not prevent VariantClear calls on an uninitialized VARIANT, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a malformed stream to an ATL (1) component or (2) control, related to ATL headers and error handling, aka "ATL Uninitialized Object Vulnerability."
The exploitability of CVE-2009-0901 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).
With low attack complexity and no required privileges, CVE-2009-0901 is an easy target for cybercriminals. Organizations should prioritize immediate mitigation measures to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches.
A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.
Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.
Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.
Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2009-0901, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.
Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2009-0901, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.
The EPSS score estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the near future.
EPSS Score: 80.431% (probability of exploit)
EPSS Percentile: 98.63%
(lower percentile = lower relative risk)
This vulnerability is less risky than approximately 1.3700000000000045% of others.
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