CVE-2010-0249: Microsoft Internet Explorer Use-After-Free Vulnerability

CVE-2010-0249 is a use-after-free vulnerability affecting Microsoft Internet Explorer. Remote attackers can exploit this vulnerability to achieve arbitrary code execution by manipulating a pointer related to a deallocated object. Given the age of this vulnerability, affected versions of Internet Explorer are likely end-of-life (EoL) and/or end-of-service (EoS), posing a significant risk to organizations that continue to rely on them. Defenders should prioritize identifying and eliminating instances of Internet Explorer within their environment.

Attack Chain

1. Attacker crafts a malicious web page containing JavaScript code designed to trigger the use-after-free vulnerability in Internet Explorer.
2. The victim visits the malicious web page using a vulnerable version of Internet Explorer.
3. The JavaScript code manipulates objects in memory, leading to the premature deallocation of an object.
4. The JavaScript code then accesses the memory associated with the deallocated object through a dangling pointer.
5. This access corrupts memory, allowing the attacker to overwrite critical data structures.
6. The attacker carefully crafts the memory corruption to redirect program execution to attacker-controlled code.
7. The attacker-controlled code executes arbitrary commands on the victim’s machine, such as downloading and executing malware.
8. The attacker achieves code execution on the victim’s system, potentially leading to data exfiltration, system compromise, or other malicious activities.

Impact

Successful exploitation of CVE-2010-0249 allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the victim’s system. While the original impact likely varied, successful exploitation could lead to complete system compromise, data theft, or installation of malware. This is critical because the product is end-of-life.

Recommendation

• Discontinue use of Microsoft Internet Explorer due to the presence of unpatched vulnerabilities like CVE-2010-0249.
• Apply mitigations suggested in Microsoft Security Advisory 979352 to reduce the attack surface.
• Deploy the Sigma rule “Detect CVE-2010-0249 Exploitation Attempt via Memory Access” to identify potential exploitation attempts.