CVE-2017-8539 Denial of service in Malware Protection Engine

Medium 5.5 Published Updated

Attackers can cause a denial of service in Microsoft Malware Protection Engine by submitting specially crafted files, affecting Windows and Exchange servers.

Exploited in the wild
Not known
Login needed
Not needed
Attackable
Local or same network only
Victim action needed
A user has to click or open something
Fix
None listed

What is CVE-2017-8539?

CVE-2017-8539 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Microsoft Corporation Malware Protection Engine, published on 26 May 2017. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

Official description

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 denial of service. aka "Microsoft Malware Protection Engine Denial of Service Vulnerability", a different vulnerability than CVE-2017-8535, CVE-2017-8536, CVE-2017-8537, and CVE-2017-8542.

Weakness: CWE-674, CWE-476, CWE-369, CWE-119

Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-8539?

It affects 3 products.

Products include Microsoft Forefront Security, Microsoft Malware Protection Engine, Microsoft Windows Defender.

How do I fix CVE-2017-8539?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-8539 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2017-8539 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-8539 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as GHSA-c797-4xm9-5jpw.

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