[KB8122] Does ESET protect me from the Microsoft Windows remote code execution vulnerability CVE-2021-40444?

Solution

What is CVE-2021-40444?

On September 7, 2021, Microsoft released a Security Vulnerability report of a remote code execution vulnerability (known as CVE-2021-40444 ) in MSHTML that affects Microsoft Windows. 

CVE-2021-4044 affects the "MSHTML" component of Internet Explorer (IE) on Windows 10 and other Windows Server versions. IE has decreased in popularity, but the browser is still a component of operating systems like Microsoft Office.


Does ESET protect me from CVE-2021-40444?

ESET is investigating reports of a remote code execution vulnerability CVE-2021-40444 and is adding detections for known samples exploiting the vulnerability.

We recommend the following mitigation for protection:


Disable ActiveX controls in Internet Explorer

  1. Open Internet Explorer.

  2. From the Tools drop-down menu, click Manage Add-Ons.

  3. From the Show drop-down menu, confirm that All Add-Ons is selected. 

  4. Click an add-on in a list.

  5. Click Disable next to ActiveX.

  6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for every ActiveX control in the Manage Add-Ons window.

  7. Click Close to dismiss the Manage Add-Ons window.

Latest updates

For the latest details and mitigation steps for CVE-2021-40444, see Microsoft's full article
 
For more information on the CVE-2021-40444 vulnerability, see our discussion in the ESET Security Forum.