CVE-2023-35336: Windows MSHTML Platform Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability

Overview

Severity
Medium (CVSS 6.5)
CVSS Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L/E:U/RL:O/RC:C
Category
Security Feature Bypass
Exploit Status
Not Exploited
Exploitation Likelihood
Less Likely
Patch Tuesday
2023-Jul
Released
2023-07-11
EPSS Score
0.56% (percentile: 68.2%)

FAQ

According to the CVSS metric, successful exploitation of this vulnerability could lead to some loss of integrity (I:L) and some loss of availability (A:L). What does that mean for this vulnerability? An attacker who successfully exploits the vulnerability could craft a malicious URL that would evade zone checks, resulting in a limited loss of integrity and availability on the victim machine. What kind of security feature could be bypassed by successfully exploiting this vulnerability? A security feature bypass vulnerability exists when the MSHTML platform fails to validate the correct Security Zone of requests for specific URLs. This could allow an attacker to cause a user to access a URL in a less restricted Internet Security Zone than intended. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker could email or otherwise provide a specially crafted URL to a victim and convince them to click on it. The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting security feature behavior to properly map affected URLs to the correct Security Zone. The Security Updates table indicates that this vulnerability affects all supported versions of Microsoft Windows except Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2012. Why are IE Cumulative updates listed for Windows Server 2012 R2? While Microsoft has announced retirement of the Internet Explorer 11 application on certain platforms and the Microsoft Edge Legacy application is deprecated, the underlying MSHTML, EdgeHTML, and scripting platforms are still supported. The MSHTML platform is used by Internet Explorer mode in Microsoft Edge as well as other applications through WebBrowser control. The EdgeHTML platform is used by WebView and some UWP applications. The scripting platforms are used by MSHTML and EdgeHTML but can also be used by other legacy applications. Updates to address vulnerabilities in the MSHTML platform and scripting engine are included in the IE Cumulative Updates; EdgeHTML and Chakra changes ar

Affected Products (25)

Windows

  • Windows 10 Version 1809 for 32-bit Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 1809 for x64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 1809 for ARM64-based Systems
  • Windows Server 2019
  • Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation)
  • Windows Server 2022
  • Windows Server 2022 (Server Core installation)
  • Windows 11 version 21H2 for x64-based Systems
  • Windows 11 version 21H2 for ARM64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 21H2 for 32-bit Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 21H2 for ARM64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 21H2 for x64-based Systems
  • Windows 11 Version 22H2 for ARM64-based Systems
  • Windows 11 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 22H2 for ARM64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 22H2 for 32-bit Systems
  • Windows 10 for 32-bit Systems
  • Windows 10 for x64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 1607 for 32-bit Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based Systems
  • Windows Server 2016
  • Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation)

ESU

  • Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation)

Security Updates (10)

Acknowledgments

Roberto Bamberger and Matt Wagenknecht with Microsoft

Revision History

  • 2023-07-11: Information published.