CVE-2020-0674: Microsoft Internet Explorer Remote Code Vulnerability Alert

On Friday, January 17, there was a high-risk memory corruption vulnerability (CVE-2020-0674) in the security update released by Microsoft. The vulnerability stems from software not being able to handle objects in memory correctly, and an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code in the context of a system user. The attacker can then install the program; view, change or delete the data; or create a new account. This flaw was found by Ella Yu from Qihoo 360.

A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the way that the scripting engine handles objects in memory in Internet Explorer. The vulnerability could corrupt memory in such a way that an attacker could execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could take control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.

In a web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit the vulnerability through Internet Explorer and then convince a user to view the website, for example, by sending an email.

Affected version

• Internet Explorer 9/10/11

Solution

Now, Microsoft has no patch for this vulnerability. However, Microsoft issues a guide for migrating this flaw:

By default, Internet Explorer on Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019 runs in a restricted mode that is known as Enhanced Security Configuration. Enhanced Security Configuration is a group of preconfigured settings in Internet Explorer that can reduce the likelihood of a user or administrator downloading and running specially crafted web content on a server. This is a mitigating factor for websites that you have not added to the Internet Explorer Trusted sites zone.