CVE-2017-8540
Actively exploited. CVE-2017-8540 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-03-03) — exploitation has been observed in the wild, and US federal agencies are required to remediate it under BOD 22-01. Treat patching as urgent.
Public exploit code is available. Proof-of-concept or working exploit code for CVE-2017-8540 is indexed in Exploit-DB. Expect opportunistic scanning and exploitation attempts — prioritize remediation.
The Microsoft Malware Protection Engine running on Microsoft Forefront and Microsoft Defender on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 SP2 and R2 SP1, Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012 Gold and R2, Windows RT 8.1, Windows 10 Gold, 1511, 1607, and 1703, and Windows Server 2016, Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 and 2016, does not properly scan a specially crafted file leading to memory corruption. aka "Microsoft Malware Protection Engine Remote Code Execution Vulnerability".
CSIRTS triage
- What
- The Microsoft Malware Protection Engine does not properly scan a specially crafted file leading to memory corruption.
- Who is affected
- Users of the specified Microsoft products are affected.
- Urgency
- Remediation is urgent due to active exploitation and critical severity.
- Action
- Update the Microsoft Malware Protection Engine to the latest version.
AI-assisted analysis generated from the source advisory — verify against the original.
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Exploitation outlook
- Exploitation confirmedAlready exploited in the wild (CISA KEV) — the prediction phase is over. Patch now. Riskier than 99% of all EPSS-scored CVEs.
Exploit availability
Public exploit or proof-of-concept code for CVE-2017-8540 is indexed in these free datasets. Available exploit code raises real-world risk independent of the CVSS score.
- Exploit-DBA public exploit is published in the Exploit-DB archive.look it up ↗
Advisory coverage (1)
- criticalexploitedCVE-2017-8540: Microsoft Malware Protection Engine Improper Restriction of Operations Vulnerabilitycisa-kev · 2022-03-03
External references
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[](https://www.csirts.com/cve/CVE-2017-8540)