Microsoft Security Bulletin MS16-024 - Critical

• 10/11/2017
• 6 minutes to read
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Cumulative Security Update for Microsoft Edge (3142019)

Published: March 8, 2016

Version: 1.0

Executive Summary

This security update resolves vulnerabilities in Microsoft Edge. The most severe of the vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted webpage using Microsoft Edge. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerabilities could gain the same user rights as the current user. Customers whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than those who operate with administrative user rights.

This security update is rated Critical for Microsoft Edge on Windows 10. For more information, see the Affected Software section.

The update addresses the vulnerability by:

• Modifying how Microsoft Edge handles objects in memory
• Changing how Microsoft Edge handles the referrer policy

For more information about the vulnerability, see the Vulnerability Information section.

For more information about this update, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 3142019.

Affected Software

The following software versions or editions are affected. Versions or editions that are not listed are either past their support life cycle or are not affected. To determine the support life cycle for your software version or edition, see Microsoft Support Lifecycle.

Note Windows Server Technical Preview 4 is affected. Customers running these operating systems are encouraged to apply the update, which is available via Windows Update.

Update FAQ

Does this update contain any additional security-related changes to functionality?
In addition to the changes that are listed for the vulnerabilities described in this bulletin, this update includes defense-in-depth updates to help improve security-related features.

Severity Ratings and Vulnerability Identifiers

The following severity ratings assume the potential maximum impact of the vulnerability. For information regarding the likelihood, within 30 days of this security bulletin's release, of the exploitability of the vulnerability in relation to its severity rating and security impact, please see the Exploitability Index in the March bulletin summary.

Where specified in the Severity Ratings and Impact table, Critical, Important, and Moderate values indicate severity ratings. For more information, see Security Bulletin Severity Rating System. Refer to the following key for the abbreviations used in the table to indicate maximum impact:

Vulnerability Information

Multiple Microsoft Edge Memory Corruption Vulnerabilities

Multiple remote code execution vulnerabilities exist when Microsoft Edge improperly accesses objects in memory. The vulnerabilities could corrupt memory in such a way that an attacker could execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user.

An attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit the vulnerabilities through Microsoft Edge, and then convince a user to view the website. The attacker could also take advantage of compromised websites and websites that accept or host user-provided content or advertisements by adding specially crafted content that could exploit the vulnerability. In all cases, however, 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 way of enticement in an email or Instant Messenger message, or by getting them to open an attachment sent through email.

An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerabilities 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 vulnerabilities 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. The update addresses the vulnerability by modifying how Microsoft Edge handles objects in memory.

The following table contains links to the standard entry for each vulnerability in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures list: