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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 2 Sep 2025.
Internet ExplorerApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2013-3893

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2013-09-18
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Use-after-free vulnerability in the SetMouseCapture implementation in mshtml.dll in Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 through 11 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted JavaScript strings, as demonstrated by use of an ms-help: URL that triggers loading of hxds.dll.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Use-after-free vulnerability in the SetMouseCapture function within mshtml.dll in Internet Explorer versions 6 through 11. Attackers exploit this by crafting malicious JavaScript strings, specifically leveraging ms-help: URLs to trigger loading of the hxds.dll component, leading to arbitrary code execution with the user's privileges.

MitigationApply Microsoft security update MS13-080 which addresses this CVE, or upgrade to a supported version of Internet Explorer. Consider migrating to modern browsers and enabling Enhanced Protected Mode as a defense-in-depth measure.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Internet ExplorerApplication
Affected:= 6= 7= 8= 9= 10= 11

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Internet Explorer version
    Open Internet Explorer, click Help > About Internet Explorer, or run 'winver' from command prompt, or check the version of iexplore.exe in Program Files
    Affected if The version listed is 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11 (these are the exact affected versions)
  2. Locate and verify mshtml.dll version
    Find mshtml.dll in the system (typically in C:\Windows\System32\ or C:\Windows\SysWOW64\), right-click > Properties > Details to view File Version
    Affected if The file version corresponds to an unpatched IE 6-11 installation (vulnerable versions pre-dating MS13-080)
  3. Verify hxds.dll presence
    Search for hxds.dll in C:\Windows\System32\ or C:\Windows\Help\ folder - this is the component loaded via ms-help: URL scheme
    Affected if hxdls.dll exists on the system and is loaded by Internet Explorer when the ms-help: protocol is invoked

You are affected if Internet Explorer version 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11 is installed without the MS13-080 security update applied.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Microsoft security update MS13-080 which addresses this CVE, or upgrade to a supported version of Internet Explorer. Consider migrating to modern browsers and enabling Enhanced Protected Mode as a defense-in-depth measure.

Recommended fix High confidence

Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS13-080 (October 8, 2013) - this is a patch, not a version upgrade. For long-term mitigation, migrate from Internet Explorer to Microsoft Edge on supported Windows versions.

  1. Apply Microsoft Security Bulletin MS13-080, which addresses CVE-2013-3893. This update can be obtained via Windows Update or the Microsoft Download Center.
  2. Ensure the system has the latest Windows updates installed, as this patch was included in the October 2013 security update rollup.
  3. After applying the patch, verify the Internet Explorer version to confirm the mshtml.dll has been updated.
  4. If unable to apply the patch immediately, consider using an alternative web browser that is not affected by this vulnerability as a temporary workaround.
Caveat Applying security patches typically has low risk, but ensure backups exist and test in a non-production environment first. Note that IE 6-9 are very old and may not receive patches on older operating systems.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Internet Explorer Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,440
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-3893 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data