Microsoft Security Bulletin MS16-104 - Critical

• 10/11/2017
• 18 minutes to read
• • 

Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (3183038)

Published: September 13, 2016

Version: 1.0

Executive Summary

This security update resolves vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. The most severe of the vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted webpage using Internet Explorer. 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 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.

This security update is rated Critical for Internet Explorer 9 (IE 9), and Internet Explorer 11 (IE 11) on affected Windows clients, and Moderate for Internet Explorer 9 (IE 9), Internet Explorer 10 (IE 10), and Internet Explorer 11 (IE 11) on affected Windows servers. For more information, see the Affected Software section.

The update addresses the vulnerabilities by correcting how Internet Explorer handles:

• zone and integrity settings.
• cross-origin content.
• objects in memory.
• .URL files.

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

For more information about this update, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 3183038.

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.

^[2]This update is available via Windows Update.

^[3]Windows 10 updates are cumulative. The monthly security release includes all security fixes for vulnerabilities that affect Windows 10, in addition to non-security updates. The updates are available via the Microsoft Update Catalog.

Note The vulnerabilities discussed in this bulletin affect Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 5. To be protected from the vulnerabilities, Microsoft recommends that customers running this operating system apply the current update, which is available exclusively from Windows Update.

*The Updates Replaced column shows only the latest update in any chain of superseded updates. For a comprehensive list of updates replaced, go to the Microsoft Update Catalog, search for the update KB number, and then view update details (updates replaced information is provided on the Package Details tab).

Update FAQ

In addition to installing this update are there any further steps I need to carry out to be protected from any of the vulnerabilities discussed in this bulletin? 
Yes. Although protecting Windows 10 systems from CVE-2016-3375 requires no additional steps other than installing the September Windows 10 cumulative update, for all other affected operating systems installing the 3185319 cumulative update by itself does not fully protect against CVE-2016-3375 — you must also install security update 3184122 in MS16-116 to be fully protected from the vulnerability.

Does this update contain any additional security-related changes to functionality?
Yes. 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 September 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 Internet Explorer Memory Corruption Vulnerabilities

Multiple remote code execution vulnerabilities exist in the way that Internet Explorer accesses objects in memory. The vulnerabilities could corrupt memory in a way that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user. 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, the attacker 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.

An attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit the vulnerabilities through Internet Explorer, and then convince a user to view the website. The attacker could also take advantage of compromised websites, or websites that accept or host user-provided content or advertisements, by adding specially crafted content that could exploit the vulnerabilities. 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 via an enticement in email or instant message, or by getting them to open an email attachment.

The update addresses the vulnerabilities by modifying how Internet Explorer handles objects in memory.

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