Zero-day vulnerability in Microsoft Office

Memory corruption
CVE-2014-1761

Used in Pawn Storm campaign, attacks against government agencies in Taiwan.

Known malware:

Trojans like Dridex or Dyreza and ransomware like cryptolocker or Teslacrypt.

Vulnerability details

Advisory: SB2014032401 - Multiple vulnerabilities in Microsoft Word and Office Web Apps

Vulnerable component: Microsoft Office

CVE-ID: CVE-2014-1761

CVSSv3 score: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:H/RL:O/RC:C

CWE-ID: CWE-119 - Memory corruption

Description:

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the target system.

The weakness exists due to boundary error when handling RTF-formatted data. A remote attacker can create a specially crafted RTF file, trick the victim into opening it, trigger memory corruption and execute arbitrary code with privileges of the current user.

Successful exploitation of the vulnerability results in arbitrary code execution on the vulnerable system.

Note: the vulnerability was being actively exploited.

Public Exploits:

- Microsoft Word - RTF Object Confusion (MS14-017) (Metasploit) [Exploit-DB]

External links:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/2953095.aspx
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/ms14-017
https://securingtomorrow.mcafee.com/mcafee-labs/close-look-rtf-zero-day-attack-cve-2014-1761-shows-s...
https://community.hpe.com/t5/Security-Research/Technical-Analysis-of-CVE-2014-1761-RTF-Vulnerability...
https://www.trustwave.com/Resources/SpiderLabs-Blog/Microsoft-Word-RTF-0-Day-(CVE-2014-1761)/
http://stopmalvertising.com/malware-reports/a-closer-look-at-cve-2014-1761.html
https://www.nccgroup.trust/uk/about-us/newsroom-and-events/blogs/2014/june/extracting-the-payload-fr...
https://blog.cylance.com/infinity-vs-the-real-world-ms-word-vulnerability-cve-2014-1761
https://myonlinesecurity.co.uk/reswift-copy-word-doc-malware-cve-2014-1761-exploit/
https://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/emerging-threat-microsoft-word-zero-day-cve-2014-1761-remote-...
https://avstrike.wordpress.com/2015/05/05/exploit-cve-2014-1761-gen-removal-guide-2/
http://www.securityweek.com/new-microsoft-word-zero-day-used-targeted-attacks
https://blog.yoocare.com/remove-exploit-cve-2014-1761-gen/
https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/cve-2014-1761-alley-compromise/
http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/03/zero-day-vulnerability-in-microsoft-word-under-active-attack...

About zero-day vulnerabilities

Zero-day vulnerability is an undisclosed vulnerability in software that hackers can exploit to compromise computer programs, gain unauthorized access to sensitive data, penetrate networks, etc. We consider vulnerability a zero-day when there is no solution provided from software vendor and the vulnerability is being actively exploited by malicious actors.

Zero-day candidate is a potential zero-day vulnerability in software which might have been used in targeted attacks, however there is no evidence to support this suggestion.