An organization named EXPMON discovered an Office 365/2019 vulnerability on September 5th 2021. The vulnerability lies within MSHTML, which is the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser engine. The vulnerability itself is a Remote code execution (RCE) attack, allowing the attacker to remotely install malware on the target machine.
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The exploit is performed by an attacker sending a user a modified .docx file. Said file will contain a script upon opening the document that will use the IE MSHTML engine to open the url programmed into the scripting in the .docx file.
Microsoft has recommended disabling scripts and active X execution, but we are not convinced this is enough due to the base IE11 code being left in the OS. Despite Microsoft not carrying over the IE coding from legacy Edge when they switched to the new Chromium based Edge browser, having legacy IE11 code within the OS still makes execution possible and we recommend removing the base IE11. This is, however, not a guarantee as Microsoft has not confirmed if the IE11 code exist in other parts of the OS, so the following prevention recommendations should always be followed:
Recommendation Internet Explorer 11, even if not showing on your computer, is likely still installed as a background app on your machine as Microsoft has maintained it for compatibility, it is recommended to remove it. You can do this by searching for windows features in the windows search bar. Uncheck the Internet Explorer 11 checkbox to remove "Internet Explorer" and IE11 code. Your PC should request a reboot, click reboot when prompted.
If your business still requires use of Internet Explorer 11 for any reason, contact the developer of the program you are using to ask them to update their codebase to support modern web browsing.
It is important to remember that attachments are often insecure, and even if you have removed the above code, we continue to recommend not opening attachments unless you are absolutely sure of the source; and even then, only once you have confirmed that the source did send it.
The preferred approach is to use a sharing system such as our On The move server https://c-justice.com/odrsoftware.html available to all types of business, as one example; or other secure option instead of using attachments.