CVE-2020-1380
Microsoft Internet Explorer Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability
Does this matter?
Known to be exploited in the wild (CISA KEV, CISA remediation deadline 3 May 2022). Treat as an emergency change: patch or isolate now, then hunt for prior compromise.
Description
A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the way that the scripting engine handles objects in memory in Internet Explorer. The vulnerability could corrupt memory in such a way that an attacker could execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could take control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. In a web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit the vulnerability through Internet Explorer and then convince a user to view the website. An attacker could also embed an ActiveX control marked "safe for initialization" in an application or Microsoft Office document that hosts the IE rendering engine. The attacker could also take advantage of compromised websites and websites that accept or host user-provided content or advertisements. These websites could contain specially crafted content that could exploit the vulnerability. The security update addresses the vulnerability by modifying how the scripting engine handles objects in memory.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 24.19% probability · 98th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Listed 3 November 2021 · due 3 May 2022
- Weakness
- CWE-787
- Affected
- microsoft/internet explorer
- Source
- secure@microsoft.com
EPSS 24.2% since 26 October 2026; no change recorded yet. The dashed line is the ten per cent mark our analysts treat as “patch before the next change window”. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
CISA notes
Apply updates per vendor instructions. https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-1380
References
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/163056/Internet-Explorer-jscript9.dll-Memory-Corruption.htmlThird Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2020-1380Patch, Vendor Advisory
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/163056/Internet-Explorer-jscript9.dll-Memory-Corruption.htmlThird Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2020-1380Patch, Vendor Advisory
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-1380US Government Resource
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.