Assessment
Why it matters
CISA lists this vulnerability as known to be exploited; exploitation is confirmed; EPSS is 91.9%; technical severity is CVSS 8.8.
Use-after-free vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, 6 SP1, 7, and 8 on Windows 2000 SP4; Windows XP SP2 and SP3; Windows Server 2003 SP2; Windows Vista Gold, SP1, and SP2; Windows Server 2008 Gold, SP2, and R2; and Windows 7 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by accessing a pointer associated with a deleted object, related to incorrectly initialized memory and improper handling of objects in memory, as exploited in the wild in December 2009 and January 2010 during Operation Aurora, aka "HTML Object Memory Corruption Vulnerability."
Who should care
- Teams operating Internet Explorer
- Vulnerability and exposure management teams
- Security operations teams monitoring exploitation activity
Response plan
What I would do
- Confirm whether Internet Explorer is present in the environment.
- Identify affected versions and establish whether vulnerable services are exposed or reachable.
- Microsoft Security patch 979352
- Review relevant security telemetry for evidence of attempted or successful exploitation.
- Document the remediation decision and track it to verified completion.
Treatment intelligence
Remediation intelligence
Vendor sources are listed before government and third-party guidance. Confirm product applicability and change prerequisites before deployment.
Patch
Technical details
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CWE
- CWE-416
- Affected versions
- Microsoft Internet Explorer (Version 5.0.1 | Version 6 | Version 6 | Version 7.0)
- Fixed versions
- No explicit fixed version is currently recorded.
- Published
- 15 January 2010
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- Required
Signal timeline
- CVE published
- Added to CISA KEV
- Latest EPSS score: 91.9%
- Signal calculated at 83
External references
- CERT/CC Government advisory 492515
- CISA Government advisory CVE-2010-0249
- Blogs Technet Technical reference Security Advisory 979352
- News Cnet Technical reference 8301 27080 3 10435232 245
- Securitytracker Third-party advisory
- Exploit information from www.exploit-db.com
- Exploit information from www.securityfocus.com
- Us Cert Government advisory TA10 055A
- Vupen Technical reference
- Exchange Xforce Ibmcloud Third-party advisory
- Oval Cisecurity Technical reference Oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A6835