CVE-2019-0676

CVE-2019-0676 is an information disclosure vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer caused by improper handling of objects in memory. It is exploited remotely via attacker-crafted content, most likely a malicious web page or link, that the victim must open in Internet Explorer, as reflected by the user-interaction requirement in the CVSS vector. A successful attacker can probe the victim's system and test for the presence of specific files on disk, which is useful for reconnaissance and tailoring follow-on attacks; there is no integrity or availability impact. Affected systems are those running Microsoft Internet Explorer, per CISA and Microsoft data. The flaw is listed in the CISA KEV catalog (added 2022-05-23), confirming known exploitation in the wild, with an EPSS 30-day exploitation probability of 7.5% (94th percentile), and remediation is via Microsoft security updates.

What to do: Apply Microsoft security updates for Internet Explorer/Windows per vendor instructions, as required by the CISA KEV listing, and verify patch status across internet-exposed and user workstations. Because exploitation requires user interaction, caution users against opening untrusted links in IE, and consider disabling or removing Internet Explorer where it is no longer needed. Monitor for KEV-driven remediation deadlines and check environments for evidence of the file-existence probing behavior.