CVE-2022-44698
Actively exploited. CVE-2022-44698 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-12-13) — exploitation has been observed in the wild, and US federal agencies are required to remediate it under BOD 22-01. Treat patching as urgent.
Microsoft Defender SmartScreen contains a security feature bypass vulnerability that could allow an attacker to evade Mark of the Web (MOTW) defenses via a specially crafted malicious file.
CSIRTS triage
- What
- A security feature bypass vulnerability could allow an attacker to evade Mark of the Web defenses via a malicious file.
- Who is affected
- Users of Microsoft Defender SmartScreen.
- Urgency
- Remediation is urgent as the vulnerability is critical and being exploited.
- Action
- Update Microsoft Defender 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.
Advisory coverage (1)
- criticalexploitedCVE-2022-44698: Microsoft Defender SmartScreen Security Feature Bypass Vulnerabilitycisa-kev · 2022-12-13
External references
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