What is CVE-2008-3475?

CVE-2008-3475 is a high-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer, classified under Use of Uninitialized Resource. CVSS score: 8.8/10. Published 2008-10-15.

How severe is CVE-2008-3475?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.8 out of 10.

Vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer

CVE-2008-3475

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 does not properly handle errors related to using the componentFromPoint method on xml objects that have been (1) incorrectly initialized or (2) deleted, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted HTML document, aka "Uninitialized Memory Corruption Vulnerability."

Published 2008-10-15 · last modified 2026-06-16.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 8.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.399 (98.6th percentile), scored 2026-09-28.

Moderate probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — watch for active exploitation reports. 99th percentile — 98.6% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.399 · newest: 0.399 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Microsoft Internet Explorer — versions 5.01, 6, 7.0
Microsoft Windows 2000
Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Microsoft Windows Server 2008
Microsoft Windows Vista
Microsoft Windows Xp

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-908 — Use of Uninitialized Resource

References

ifsec.blogspot.com/2008/10/internet-explorer-6-componentfrompoint.html (Third Party Advisory, Issue Tracking)
oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval:org.mitre.oval:def:13151 (Broken Link, signature, vdb-entry)
exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/45563 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)
www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/497380/100/0/threaded (mailing-list, VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, Broken Link)
marc.info/ (vendor-advisory, Mailing List)
docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2008/ms08-058 (vendor-advisory, Patch, Vendor Advisory)
www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2008/2809 (vdb-entry, Broken Link)
www.securitytracker.com/id (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry, Broken Link)
www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-08-069/ (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA08-288A.html (US Government Resource, Third Party Advisory, Broken Link, third-party-advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2008-3475?: CVE-2008-3475 is a high-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer, classified under Use of Uninitialized Resource. CVSS score: 8.8/10. Published 2008-10-15.
How severe is CVE-2008-3475?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.8 out of 10.