CVE-2018-0824 — Windows 7
HIGHCVE-2018-0824 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in microsoft windows 7. It is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2024-08-05) — treat it as actively exploited and patch now. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
A remote code execution vulnerability exists in "Microsoft COM for Windows" when it fails to properly handle serialized objects, aka "Microsoft COM for Windows Remote Code Execution…
Exploitation Status
Actively exploited in the wild
- Confirmed by CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2024-08-05. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2024-08-26.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA (KEV catalog and SSVC triage) for CVE-2018-0824.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2018-0824 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). In the shaded patch-first corner (EPSS 50%+, CVSS 7.0+).
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 395,249 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 50–90% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Description
A remote code execution vulnerability exists in "Microsoft COM for Windows" when it fails to properly handle serialized objects, aka "Microsoft COM for Windows Remote Code Execution Vulnerability." This affects Windows 7, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 10, Windows 10 Servers.
Affected Products
windows 7microsoftwindows 8.1microsoftwindows 10microsoftwindows rt 8.1microsoftwindows server 2008microsoftwindows server 2012microsoftResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Microsoft COM for Windows - Privilege Escalation
by Code White · Jun 18, 2018
Detection & mitigation playbook
Vendor / applianceDetect
Inventory every microsoft windows 7 deployment and check each version against the affected-products list above.
Remediation status
No patch has shipped for CVE-2018-0824 yet — track the microsoft windows 7 advisory for a fixed release and apply the workarounds below in the meantime.
Mitigate without a patch
Do not deserialise data from untrusted sources: where the format allows it, restrict deserialisation to an explicit allowlist of expected types, and prefer a data-only format (JSON, Protobuf) over one that can reconstruct arbitrary objects until you can upgrade. Alongside that, restrict the management interface to trusted networks and apply the vendor's recommended configuration mitigations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2018-0824 being exploited in your environment?
Detect and block the exploit chain at execution, on systems you cannot patch yet.