CVE-2019-0609

Vulnerability

Details CVE-2019-0609 is a memory corruption vulnerability in the scripting engine (ChakraCore) used by Microsoft browsers. The bug occurs because the scripting engine improperly handles objects in memory, leading to potentially exploitable memory corruption [1]. This issue is part of a group of similar vulnerabilities fixed in the same security update, including CVE-2019-0639, CVE-2019-0680, and others [1].

Exploitation

An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by hosting a specially crafted website that triggers the memory corruption when visited. The attack requires user interaction, as the victim must open the malicious webpage in a vulnerable browser. No authentication is needed, only network access to serve the page. The vulnerability affects Microsoft ChakraCore versions prior to 1.11.7 [2].

Impact

Successful exploitation grants the attacker the ability to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user. This means an attacker could potentially install programs, view, change, or delete data, or create new accounts with full user rights. The impact is limited by the user's privileges; an administrator account would give the attacker complete control.

Mitigation

Microsoft released security updates in April 2019 to address this vulnerability. Users should ensure their systems and browsers are updated. For those using ChakraCore directly (NuGet package), version 1.11.7 or later contains the fix [2]. The vulnerability is not listed as known to be exploited in the wild as of the public advisory date.