Microsoft Issues Patches for 121 Flaws, Including Zero

Microsoft Exchange Server Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

CVE-2022-30190 (Follina) is a remote code execution flaw in the Microsoft Windows Support Diagnostic Tool (MSDT) when MSDT is invoked through its ms-msdt URL protocol by a calling application such as Microsoft Word. Attackers trigger it by luring a user into opening a malicious document — typically a Word/RTF file whose link or remotely linked template launches the ms-msdt: URI with attacker-supplied commands — and CVSS 3.1 rates it 7.8 with a local attack vector and required user interaction. A successful exploit runs arbitrary code with the privileges of the calling application, allowing the attacker to install programs, view, change or delete data, or create new accounts in the user's context. Per the CISA data, affected platforms are Windows 7, 8.1 and RT 8.1, Windows 10 versions 1507 through 21H2, Windows 11 21H2, and Windows Server 2008 and 2012 — essentially any Windows installation that ships MSDT, with Office/Word as the common delivery vector. Exploitation is confirmed in the wild: Microsoft acknowledged it as an exploited zero-day, CISA added it to the KEV on 2022-06-14 with known ransomware use, EPSS puts the 30-day exploitation probability at 99.2% (99th percentile), and contemporaneous reporting also tied its use to espionage actors including APT28.

Do: Apply Microsoft's security updates per vendor instructions (the fix shipped in the June 2022 Patch Tuesday releases for the affected Windows versions), as required by CISA's KEV. If patching must be delayed, follow Microsoft's documented mitigation to disable the MSDT URL protocol (remove or restrict the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\ms-msdt registry key) and enforce Office Protected View / block Word from fetching remote templates over the network. Hunt for exploitation by checking whether Office processes (WINWORD.exe) launch msdt.exe or sdiagnhost.exe, or whether ms-msdt: URIs are invoked unexpectedly.

CVE-2022-34713, commonly referred to as 'DogWalk,' is a remote code execution vulnerability in the Microsoft Windows Support Diagnostic Tool (MSDT), patched in Microsoft's August 2022 Patch Tuesday release. The flaw requires user interaction: a user who engages with attacker-supplied content that invokes MSDT can allow the attacker's file operations to run in the context of the logged-on user, yielding high-impact code execution (confidentiality, integrity, and availability all rated high in the CVSS vector). Affected products span essentially the entire supported Windows installed base at the time: Windows 7, 8.1, RT 8.1, Windows 10 (1507 through 21H2), Windows 11 21H2, and Windows Server 2008 and 2012. The vulnerability was confirmed by Microsoft as an actively exploited zero-day in August 2022 and was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-08-09, with a required action to apply vendor updates. EPSS assigns it a 67.8% probability of exploitation within 30 days (99th percentile), consistent with in-the-wild use.

Do: Apply the August 2022 (or later) Windows security updates on all affected Windows 7, 8.1, RT 8.1, 10 (1507–21H2), 11 21H2, Server 2008, and Server 2012 systems per vendor instructions, prioritizing user-facing workstations where exploitation depends on user interaction. Given the KEV listing, federal and high-value environments should verify patch status immediately and hunt for suspicious MSDT/diagnostic-tool invocations. No public PoC is known, but treat any unpatched system as exposed given confirmed in-the-wild exploitation.

Microsoft Windows Support Diagnostic Tool (MSDT) Remote Code Execution Vulnerability