CVE-2003-0169

HP Instant TopTools - Denial of Service via hpnst.exe Infinite Loop

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 1 public exploit for CVE-2003-0169. PoCs published by Erik Parker.

AI-analyzed exploit summary The provided text describes a denial-of-service vulnerability in Instant TopTools, where a malformed request to the `hpnst.exe` CGI script can cause a service disruption. The example URL demonstrates the exploit vector, but no actual exploit code is present.

Description

hpnst.exe in the GoAhead-Webs webserver for HP Instant TopTools before 5.55 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) via a request to hpnst.exe that calls itself, which causes an infinite loop.

Exploits (1)

exploitdb WRITEUP VERIFIED
by Erik Parker · textdoswindows
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/22447

The provided text describes a denial-of-service vulnerability in Instant TopTools, where a malformed request to the `hpnst.exe` CGI script can cause a service disruption. The example URL demonstrates the exploit vector, but no actual exploit code is present.

Classification
Writeup 80%
Attack Type
Dos
Complexity
Trivial
Reliability
Theoretical
Target: Instant TopTools (version unspecified)
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Network access to the vulnerable CGI script
mistral-large-3 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →

References (3)

Core 3
Core References
Exploit, Patch, Vendor Advisory mailing-list x_refsource_vulnwatch
http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/vulnwatch/2003-q1/0164.html
Mailing List mailing-list x_refsource_bugtraq
http://marc.info/?l=bugtraq&m=104914959705949&w=2
Exploit, Patch, Vendor Advisory vdb-entry x_refsource_bid
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/7246

Scores

EPSS 0.0968
EPSS Percentile 94.9%

Details

Status published
Products (1)
hp/instant_toptools 5.04
Published Apr 11, 2003
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026