Windows Defender Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

A vulnerability in Microsoft's Malware Protection Engine (MMPE) may allow a remote unauthenticated attacker to arbitrarily execute code.

Threat ID:: CC-2209
Category:: Exploit
Threat Severity:: High
Threat Vector:
Published:: 5 April 2018 12:00 AM

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Summary

A vulnerability in Microsoft's Malware Protection Engine (MMPE) may allow a remote unauthenticated attacker to arbitrarily execute code.

Threat details

Exploitation of this vulnerability requires a specially crafted file to be scanned by MMPE. This can cause a memory corruption error which an attacker may use to gain full control of the affected system.

At the time of publication there are no known exploits of this vulnerability.

For further information

Remediation steps

Type	Step
	MMPE version 1.1.14700.5 was released on 04/04/2018 to rectify this vulnerability. Microsoft have stated that MMPE should apply the update automatically within the next 48 hours. Administrators should check their MMPE configurations and ensure the update is applied if it has not already done so. To prevent and detect a infection, ensure that: A robust program of education and awareness training is delivered to users to ensure they don’t open attachments or follow links within unsolicited emails. All operating systems, antivirus and other security products are kept up to date. All day to day computer activities such as email and internet are performed using non-administrative accounts. Strong password policies are in place and password reuse is discouraged. Network, proxy and firewall logs should be monitored for suspicious activity. User accounts accessed from infected machines should be reset on a clean computer.

Type

Step

MMPE version 1.1.14700.5 was released on 04/04/2018 to rectify this vulnerability. Microsoft have stated that MMPE should apply the update automatically within the next 48 hours. Administrators should check their MMPE configurations and ensure the update is applied if it has not already done so.

To prevent and detect a infection, ensure that:

A robust program of education and awareness training is delivered to users to ensure they don’t open attachments or follow links within unsolicited emails.
All operating systems, antivirus and other security products are kept up to date.
All day to day computer activities such as email and internet are performed using non-administrative accounts.
Strong password policies are in place and password reuse is discouraged.
Network, proxy and firewall logs should be monitored for suspicious activity.
User accounts accessed from infected machines should be reset on a clean computer.

CVE Vulnerabilities

Status

CVE-2018-0986

Last edited: 17 February 2020 12:57 pm