CVE-2014-4077 — Microsoft IME Japanese Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
Overview
Microsoft Input Method Editor (IME) Japanese is a keyboard with Japanese characters that can be enabled on Windows systems as it is included by default (with the default set as disabled). IME Japanese contains an unspecified vulnerability when IMJPDCT.EXE (IME for Japanese) is installed which allows attackers to bypass a sandbox and perform privilege escalation.
Vulnerability details
- CVE ID
- CVE-2014-4077
- Vulnerability
- Microsoft IME Japanese Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Affected products
- Microsoft: Input Method Editor (IME) Japanese
- Severity
- HIGH
- Exploitation status
- Actively exploited in the wild (CISA KEV)
- Published
- 2022-05-25
Remediation guidance
CVE-2014-4077 is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog — U.S. federal civilian agencies are required to remediate it under Binding Operational Directive 22-01. Treat it as a priority for every environment.
Apply the vendor's official security update for Microsoft the affected product as soon as possible. Where a patch is unavailable, apply vendor mitigations or isolate/segment exposed systems.
Hunt for indicators of compromise tied to this vulnerability and confirm logging/EDR coverage on affected assets.
Authoritative references
Remediate CVE-2014-4077 — and stay ahead of the next one
CVE-2014-4077 is listed in the CISA KEV catalog as actively exploited — treat remediation as urgent. Scan your domain free to see whether CVE-2014-4077 and other Microsoft issues affect you and get a prioritized remediation report (full report from ₹999) — or stream the full feed of 1,600+ actively-exploited CVEs straight into your SOC.
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