Microsoft Issues Security Update Fixing 118 Flaws, Two Actively Exploited in the Wild

Remote Desktop Protocol Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

CVE-2024-38112 is a spoofing flaw (CWE-451) in the Microsoft Windows MSHTML platform, the Windows component used to render web content, including by applications that embed the legacy Internet Explorer engine. It is triggered when a user interacts with attacker-controlled content rendered through MSHTML: the attack requires no privileges, travels over the network, and needs user interaction (UI:R per its CVSS vector), letting an attacker misrepresent critical UI information to the victim. Despite being classified as spoofing, the CVSS impact scores are high across confidentiality, integrity, and availability, and the CVSS base score is 7.5 (High). Any system running the affected Windows 10 (1507, 1607, 1809, 21H2, 22H2), Windows 11 (21H2, 22H2, 23H2), or Windows Server (2008, 2012, 2016, 2019) releases is affected. Exploitation is confirmed in the wild: Microsoft patched it as an actively exploited zero-day in July 2024, CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2024-07-09, and reporting indicates it had been exploited for over a year before the fix.

Do: Apply Microsoft's July 2024 security updates (Patch Tuesday) across all affected Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server versions, prioritizing internet-facing and user workstations given confirmed in-the-wild exploitation and the 84.2% EPSS score. Until patched, remind users to avoid interacting with untrusted web or document content, since exploitation requires user interaction. Track the fix against CISA's KEV catalog deadlines and verify patch status on all endpoints.

CVE-2024-43461 is a spoofing vulnerability (CWE-451, user interface misrepresentation) in the Windows MSHTML platform that lets attacker-controlled content misrepresent critical UI information to users. The attack is network-delivered and succeeds when a victim interacts with crafted content — such as opening a malicious file or link rendered by MSHTML — so they believe they are handling something benign (public reporting ties the observed campaign to malicious shortcut files that appeared to be ordinary documents). Successful exploitation deceives the user and, given the high confidentiality, integrity, and availability ratings in the CVSS score, can support follow-on compromise, including delivery of attacker-supplied payloads by the Void Banshee APT. Anyone running the affected Windows releases — Windows 10 (1507, 1607, 1809, 21H2, 22H2), Windows 11 (21H2 through 24H2), and Windows Server 2008, 2012, and 2016 — is in scope. The flaw was exploited in the wild as a zero-day before it was patched in Microsoft's September 2024 updates, was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2024-09-16, and no public PoC is known.

Do: Apply Microsoft's September 2024 cumulative Windows security updates to all Windows 10/11 and Windows Server 2008/2012/2016 systems, prioritizing user workstations since exploitation requires user interaction, per the CISA KEV required action. Hunt for Void Banshee APT lures — files or shortcuts whose displayed type does not match their true format — and verify patched build status across the estate, as an earlier related fix was reportedly lost to a code defect and reissued.

CVE-2024-43468 is a SQL injection flaw (CWE-89) in Microsoft Configuration Manager that Microsoft rates critical (CVSS 3.1: 9.8), with a network attack vector requiring no privileges or user interaction, and it can escalate to remote code execution on affected site infrastructure. An attacker able to reach a vulnerable Configuration Manager component can submit crafted input that injects SQL commands against the underlying database, manipulate it, and gain code execution in the Configuration Manager environment. Affected deployments are the Configuration Manager current branch versions 2403, 2409, and 2503. The flaw is listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as of 2026-02-12, confirming in-the-wild exploitation; EPSS is very high (82%), and ransomware use is not yet confirmed.

Do: Install the updated Configuration Manager builds for branches 2403, 2409, and 2503 from Microsoft's monthly security update, per the vendor instructions required by the CISA KEV entry; no public PoC or workaround is documented. Prioritize site systems reachable from untrusted networks, since the CVSS vector is network-exploitable without authentication, and federal agencies must apply mitigations under BOD 22-01 within three weeks of the 2026-02-12 KEV addition or discontinue use. While patching, review logs for unexpected SQL activity against Configuration Manager databases to check for signs of exploitation.

Missing authentication for critical function in Visual Studio Code extension for Arduino allows an unauthenticated attacker to perform remote code execution through network attack vector.

CVE-2024-43573 is a spoofing vulnerability in the Microsoft Windows MSHTML platform, classified as an input-neutralization flaw (CWE-79), that can lead to a loss of confidentiality. It is triggered when a user renders attacker-crafted content through the MSHTML engine, the browser-rendering component embedded in Windows that many system surfaces and applications use to display web-like content, causing content or interface elements to appear to come from a trusted source when they are attacker-controlled. An attacker who successfully exploits it can present spoofed content or prompts that deceive users, potentially leading them to reveal sensitive information such as credentials. All Microsoft Windows systems are affected according to CISA's listing, though no specific version breakdown is provided in the source data. The flaw is confirmed to be exploited in the wild (CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2024-10-08), EPSS assigns a 44.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (99th percentile), no public PoC is known, and any ransomware association is listed as unknown.

Do: Apply Microsoft's October 2024 security updates (or later cumulative updates) to all Windows clients and servers as soon as possible, following vendor instructions; per CISA's required action, apply vendor mitigations or discontinue use of the affected platform if mitigations are unavailable. Until patched, exercise caution with unsolicited documents, links, and content rendered through Windows surfaces, and watch for spoofed prompts or user-interface elements. Federal agencies should complete remediation by the KEV due date for this entry.

Winlogon Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

libcurl's ASN1 parser has this utf8asn1str() function used for parsing an ASN.1 UTF-8 string. Itcan detect an invalid field and return error. Unfortunately, when doing so it also invokes `free()` on a 4 byte localstack buffer. Most modern malloc implementations detect this error and immediately abort. Some however accept the input pointer and add that memory to its list of available chunks. This leads to the overwriting of nearby stack memory. The content of the overwrite is decided by the `free()` implementation; likely to be memory pointers and a set of flags. The most likely outcome of exploting this flaw is a crash, although it cannot be ruled out that more serious results can be had in special circumstances.