Microsoft Office/Project Markup File origin validation

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as critical has been reported in Microsoft Office and Project. This impacts an unknown function of the component Markup File Handler. This manipulation causes origin validation. This vulnerability appears as CVE-2020-1449. The attack may be initiated remotely. There is no available exploit. It is recommended to apply a patch to fix this issue.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Microsoft Office and Project (Office Suite Software) (the affected version is unknown). It has been declared as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown code of the component Markup File Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a origin validation vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-346. The product does not properly verify that the source of data or communication is valid. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Microsoft Project software when the software fails to check the source markup of a file, aka 'Microsoft Project Remote Code Execution Vulnerability'.

The weakness was presented 07/14/2020 as confirmed security update guide (Website). It is possible to read the advisory at portal.msrc.microsoft.com. The public release was coordinated in cooperation with Microsoft. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2020-1449. The attack can be launched remotely. The exploitation doesn't need any form of authentication. It demands that the victim is doing some kind of user interaction. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The advisory points out:

A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Microsoft Project software when the software fails to check the source markup of a file. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could run arbitrary code in the context of the current user. If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could take control of the affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

Applying a patch is able to eliminate this problem. A possible mitigation has been published immediately after the disclosure of the vulnerability.

Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Office Suite Software

Vendor

• Microsoft

Name

• Office
• Project

License

• commercial

Website

• Vendor: https://www.microsoft.com/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔍
• 🔍

CPE 2.2info

• 🔍
• 🔍

CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Discussion