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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 28 Jul 2022.
Internet ExplorerApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2014-1776

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2014-04-27
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click 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
Use-after-free vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 through 11 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via vectors related to the CMarkup::IsConnectedToPrimaryMarkup function, as exploited in the wild in April 2014. NOTE: this issue originally emphasized VGX.DLL, but Microsoft clarified that "VGX.DLL does not contain the vulnerable code leveraged in this exploit. Disabling VGX.DLL is an exploit-specific workaround that provides an immediate, effective workaround to help block known attacks."

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 Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 through 11 allows remote code execution via memory corruption in the CMarkup::IsConnectedToPrimaryMarkup function. The vulnerability was actively exploited in the wild in April 2014.

MitigationDeploy Microsoft security patches for CVE-2014-1776 and apply the VGX.DLL disablement workaround as an immediate blocking measure for known attacks.

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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. Check if Internet Explorer is installed
    Look for iexplore.exe in typical locations (C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe or C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe) or check the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer for the Version value
    Affected if Internet Explorer is not found on the system, the vulnerability does not apply
  2. Determine the installed Internet Explorer version
    Read the Version value from registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer or run 'iexplore.exe' and check Help > About Internet Explorer
    Affected if The version is 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11 (the affected versions listed in the CVE)
  3. Verify the CMarkup component exists
    Check for the presence of mshtml.dll or the Trident rendering engine component in the Internet Explorer installation directory, which contains the vulnerable CMarkup::IsConnectedToPrimaryMarkup function
    Affected if The mshtml.dll file exists in the IE program directory, indicating the vulnerable component is present
  4. Check if VGX.DLL workaround was applied
    Check registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\VGX for a value that may indicate the workaround was enabled (the workaround disabled VGX.DLL)
    Affected if The VGX.DLL workaround was not applied (key does not exist or workaround is disabled)

If Internet Explorer versions 6 through 11 are installed and the VGX.DLL workaround was not applied, the system is potentially affected by CVE-2014-1776.

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 docs.microsoft.com →
Interim mitigation

Deploy Microsoft security patches for CVE-2014-1776 and apply the VGX.DLL disablement workaround as an immediate blocking measure for known attacks.

Recommended fix High confidence

Microsoft Edge (for Windows 10+) or apply MS14-021 security update (KB2964358) for older Windows systems, then migrate to Edge when possible

  1. Apply Microsoft Security Update MS14-021 (Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer) which addresses this use-after-free vulnerability in CVE-2014-1776
  2. If running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, ensure Windows Update is configured and install the May 2014 security update (KB2964358)
  3. If running Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, install the corresponding May 2014 cumulative security update via Windows Update
  4. For Windows 10 and later, migrate to Microsoft Edge as Internet Explorer 11 is no longer supported on modern Windows versions
  5. Verify the update was applied by checking the installed updates for the relevant KB article
Caveat Internet Explorer is deprecated; Microsoft Edge is the replacement. Some legacy web applications may require compatibility mode or remediation for Edge.

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

Fix this in Internet Explorer Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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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-2014-1776 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