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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 10 Jul 2022.
Windows 10 1507Operating system · Microsoft

CVE-2013-3900

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2013-12-11
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
97/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild No privileges Patch available

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
Why is Microsoft republishing a CVE from 2013? We are republishing CVE-2013-3900 in the Security Update Guide to update the Security Updates table and to inform customers that the EnableCertPaddingCheck is available in all currently supported versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11. While the format is different from the original CVE published in 2013, except for clarifications about how to configure the EnableCertPaddingCheck registry value, the information herein remains unchanged from the original text published on December 10, 2013, Microsoft does not plan to enforce the stricter verification behavior as a default functionality on supported releases of Microsoft Windows. This behavior remains available as an opt-in feature via reg key setting, and is available on supported editions of Windows released since December 10, 2013. This includes all currently supported versions of Windows 10 and Windows 11. The supporting code for this reg key was incorporated at the time of release for Windows 10 and Windows 11, so no security update is required; however, the reg key must be set. See the Security Updates table for the list of affected software. Vulnerability Description A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the way that the WinVerifyTrust function handles Windows Authenticode signature verification for portable executable (PE) files. An anonymous attacker could exploit the vulnerability by modifying an existing signed executable file to leverage unverified portions of the file in such a way as to add malicious code to the file without invalidating the signature. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. If a user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights. Exploitation of this vulnerability requires that a user or application run or install a specially crafted, signed PE file. An attacker could modify an... See more at https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2013-3900

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

A remote code execution vulnerability in WinVerifyTrust allows attackers to modify signed PE executables to inject malicious code without invalidating the Authenticode signature. The attacker must trick a user into running a specially crafted signed file to achieve code execution.

MitigationEnable the EnableCertPaddingCheck registry value to enforce stricter certificate signature validation, thereby blocking attacks that exploit unsigned portions of signed executables.

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
Windows 10 1507Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 10 1607Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 10 1809Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 10 1909Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 10 20h2Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 10 21h1Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 10 21h2Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 10 22h2Operating system
Affected:all versions

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

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

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 Windows version
    Run 'winver' or 'systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"' to obtain the installed Windows version and build number
    Affected if The version is one of: Windows 10 1507, 1607, 1809, 1909, 20h2, 21h1, 21h2, or 22h2 (any build)
  2. Check mitigation registry key
    Run 'reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Cryptography\OID\EnableCertPaddingCheck" /v EnableCertPaddingCheck' to query the mitigation setting
    Affected if The registry value does not exist or is set to 0 (mitigation not enabled)
  3. Alternative registry path check
    Run 'reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Cryptography\OID\EnableCertPaddingCheck" /v EnableCertPaddingCheck' for 32-bit view on 64-bit systems
    Affected if The registry value does not exist or is set to 0 on both registry paths

A system is affected if it runs any Windows 10 version listed (1507 through 22h2) and the EnableCertPaddingCheck registry value is not set to 1, meaning unsigned content in signed PE files can be exploited for code execution.

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
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch msrc.microsoft.com →
Interim mitigation

Enable the EnableCertPaddingCheck registry value to enforce stricter certificate signature validation, thereby blocking attacks that exploit unsigned portions of signed executables.

Recommended fix High confidence
  1. Open Registry Editor (regedit.exe) with administrative privileges
  2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Oid\0A0B0C0D0E0F0001 (or create this key if it does not exist)
  3. Create a new DWORD value named EnableCertPaddingCheck
  4. Set the value of EnableCertPaddingCheck to 1 (enabled)
  5. Alternatively, you can deploy this via command line: reg add "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Oid\0A0B0C0D0E0F0001" /v EnableCertPaddingCheck /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
  6. Restart the system or restart Windows Explorer for the change to take effect
Caveat Enabling stricter signature verification may cause compatibility issues with some legitimately signed executables that do not conform to proper Authenticode padding standards - test in a staging environment before broad deployment

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

Fix this in Windows 10 1507 Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
4.0 hours of engineering $750
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.

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-2013-3900 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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