Cyber Resilience

CVE-2021-43844

HighPublic PoC

Published: 20 December 2021

Published
20 December 2021
Modified
21 November 2024
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score v3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0250 85.7th percentile
Risk Priority 19 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2021-43844 is a high-severity Externally Controlled Reference to a Resource in Another Sphere (CWE-610) vulnerability in Msedgeredirect Project Msedgeredirect. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, ranked in the top 14.3% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

MSEdgeRedirect is a tool to redirect news, search, widgets, weather, and more to a user's default browser. MSEdgeRedirect versions before 0.5.0.1 are vulnerable to Remote Code Execution via specifically crafted URLs. This vulnerability requires user interaction and the acceptance of…

more

a prompt. With how MSEdgeRedirect is coded, parameters are impossible to pass to any launched file. However, there are two possible scenarios in which an attacker can do more than a minor annoyance. In Scenario 1 (confirmed), a user visits an attacker controlled webpage; the user is prompted with, and downloads, an executable payload; the user is prompted with, and accepts, the aforementioned crafted URL prompt; and RCE executes the payload the user previously downloaded, if the download path is successfully guessed. In Scenario 2 (not yet confirmed), a user visits an attacked controlled webpage; the user is prompted with, and accepts, the aforementioned crafted URL prompt; and a payload on a remote, attacker controlled, SMB server is executed. The issue was found in the _DecodeAndRun() function, in which I incorrectly assumed _WinAPI_UrlIs() would only accept web resources. Unfortunately, file:/// passes the default _WinAPI_UrlIs check(). File paths are now directly checked for and must fail. There is no currently known exploitation of this vulnerability in the wild. A patched version, 0.5.0.1, has been released that checks for and denies these crafted URLs. There are no workarounds for this issue. Users are advised not to accept any unexpected prompts from web pages.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.

Affected Assets

msedgeredirect project
msedgeredirect
≤ 0.5.0.1

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-610

Limits impact of an externally controlled reference to a primary information resource by switching to an identified alternative.

References