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CVE-2021-40444 Detail

Description

<p>Microsoft is investigating reports of a remote code execution vulnerability in MSHTML that affects Microsoft Windows. Microsoft is aware of targeted attacks that attempt to exploit this vulnerability by using specially-crafted Microsoft Office documents.</p> <p>An attacker could craft a malicious ActiveX control to be used by a Microsoft Office document that hosts the browser rendering engine. The attacker would then have to convince the user to open the malicious document. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.</p> <p>Microsoft Defender Antivirus and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint both provide detection and protections for the known vulnerability. Customers should keep antimalware products up to date. Customers who utilize automatic updates do not need to take additional action. Enterprise customers who manage updates should select the detection build 1.349.22.0 or newer and deploy it across their environments. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint alerts will be displayed as: “Suspicious Cpl File Execution”.</p> <p>Upon completion of this investigation, Microsoft will take the appropriate action to help protect our customers. This may include providing a security update through our monthly release process or providing an out-of-cycle security update, depending on customer needs.</p> <p>Please see the <strong>Mitigations</strong> and <strong>Workaround</strong> sections for important information about steps you can take to protect your system from this vulnerability.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE</strong> September 14, 2021: Microsoft has released security updates to address this vulnerability. Please see the Security Updates table for the applicable update for your system. We recommend that you install these updates immediately. Please see the FAQ for important information about which updates are applicable to your system.</p>


Metrics

NVD enrichment efforts reference publicly available information to associate vector strings. CVSS information contributed by other sources is also displayed.
CVSS 4.0 Severity and Vector Strings:

NIST CVSS score
NIST: NVD
N/A
NVD assessment not yet provided.

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

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Hyperlink Resource
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/164210/Microsoft-Windows-MSHTML-Overview.html Third Party Advisory  VDB Entry 
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/165214/Microsoft-Office-Word-MSHTML-Remote-Code-Execution.html Exploit  Third Party Advisory  VDB Entry 
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/167317/Microsoft-Office-MSDT-Follina-Proof-Of-Concept.html Exploit  Third Party Advisory  VDB Entry 
https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2021-40444 Mitigation  Patch  Vendor Advisory 

This CVE is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog

Reference CISA's BOD 22-01 and Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog for further guidance and requirements.

Vulnerability Name Date Added Due Date Required Action
Microsoft MSHTML Remote Code Execution Vulnerability 11/03/2021 11/17/2021 Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Weakness Enumeration

CWE-ID CWE Name Source
CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') cwe source acceptance level NIST  

Known Affected Software Configurations Switch to CPE 2.2

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Change History

10 change records found show changes

Quick Info

CVE Dictionary Entry:
CVE-2021-40444
NVD Published Date:
09/15/2021
NVD Last Modified:
07/29/2024
Source:
Microsoft Corporation