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HighCISA KEVExploited in the wildPublic exploit

Internet Explorer CSS clip Attribute Use-After-Free RCE

IdentifiersCVE-2010-3962CWE-416· Use After Free

CVE-2010-3962 is a use-after-free vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8. The flaw is triggered by crafted web content involving Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) token sequences and the clip attribute, and has also been described as an "invalid flag reference" issue or an "Uninitialized Memory Corruption Vulnerability." By causing Internet Explorer to reference freed memory during processing of malicious HTML/CSS content, a remote attacker can corrupt memory and gain control of execution flow. Microsoft and subsequent reporting noted that the vulnerability was exploited in the wild in November 2010.

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For your environment

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation can result in arbitrary code execution in the security context of the current user. In practical terms, this can allow full compromise of the affected browser process, installation and execution of malware, theft of data accessible to the user, and use of the host as an initial access point for further intrusion activity. The vulnerability was exploited in the wild and has been associated with delivery of follow-on malware such as the Pirpi backdoor.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate patching is not possible, reduce exposure by disabling or restricting use of Internet Explorer 6/7/8, limiting access to untrusted web content, and isolating legacy systems that require these browsers. Run users without administrative privileges to reduce post-exploitation impact. Network and host controls that block known malicious sites or payload delivery may reduce risk, but they do not eliminate the underlying vulnerability. Migrating users to supported browsers and decommissioning legacy IE deployments is the most effective compensating measure when patching is infeasible.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Apply the Microsoft security update that addresses CVE-2010-3962 for affected Internet Explorer versions 6, 7, and 8. Organizations should prioritize patching systems running legacy IE versions, verify successful deployment across endpoints, and retire or replace unsupported browser versions where possible. Because this vulnerability was actively exploited, unpatched legacy systems should be considered high risk until updated or removed from service.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No valid public exploits. Mallory filtered out 2 candidates as fakes, detection scripts, or README-only repos.

VALID 0 / 2 TOTALView more in app

All candidate exploits were filtered out by Mallory's validation.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType
Microsoft CorporationInternet Explorerapplication

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets are affected, which adversaries are exploiting it right now, which detections to deploy, and what to do tonight.
Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware1

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures1

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity7

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.