CVE-2016-3298 — Microsoft Internet Explorer Messaging API Information Disclosure Vulnerability
Overview
An information disclosure vulnerability exists when the Microsoft Internet Messaging API improperly handles objects in memory. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could allow the attacker to test for the presence of files on disk.
Vulnerability details
- CVE ID
- CVE-2016-3298
- Vulnerability
- Microsoft Internet Explorer Messaging API Information Disclosure Vulnerability
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Affected products
- Microsoft: Internet Explorer
- Severity
- HIGH
- Exploitation status
- Actively exploited in the wild (CISA KEV)
- Published
- 2022-05-24
Remediation guidance
CVE-2016-3298 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-2016-3298 — and stay ahead of the next one
CVE-2016-3298 is listed in the CISA KEV catalog as actively exploited — treat remediation as urgent. Scan your domain free to see whether CVE-2016-3298 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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