CVE-2020-1012 WinINet API Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
An attacker can execute code with elevated permissions by tricking a user into visiting a malicious website or opening a crafted document in Internet Explorer.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2020-1012?
CVE-2020-1012 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer, published on 11 Sep 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Official description
<p>An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in the way that the Wininit.dll handles objects in memory. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could execute code with elevated permissions.</p> <p>There are multiple ways an attacker could exploit the vulnerability:</p> <ul> <li><p>In a web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit this vulnerability and then convince a user to view the website. An attacker would have no way to force users to view the attacker-controlled content. Instead, an attacker would have to convince users to take action, typically by getting them to click a link in an email message or in an Instant Messenger message that takes users to the attacker's website, or by opening an attachment sent through email.</p> </li> <li><p>In a file sharing attack scenario, an attacker could provide a specially crafted document file that is designed to exploit this vulnerability, and then convince a user to open the document file.</p> </li> </ul> <p>The security update addresses the vulnerability by ensuring the Wininit.dll properly handles objects in memory.</p>
Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-1012?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Microsoft Internet Explorer.
How do I fix CVE-2020-1012?
No fix has been published for CVE-2020-1012 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2020-1012 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-1012 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Microsoft Internet Explorer
- CVE-2014-1776 Microsoft Internet Explorer Memory Corruption
- CVE-2021-27085 Microsoft Internet Explorer Remote Code Execution
- CVE-2017-0222 Microsoft Internet Explorer Remote Code Execution
- CVE-2017-0210 Microsoft Internet Explorer Privilege Escalation
- CVE-2017-0149 Microsoft Internet Explorer Memory Corruption
Sources
Also known as GHSA-pqr6-x3hm-vw74.