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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 15 Jun 2022.
Internet ExplorerApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2014-4123

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2014-10-15
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 Remotely reachable 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
Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 through 11 allows remote attackers to gain privileges via a crafted web site, aka "Internet Explorer Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability," as exploited in the wild in October 2014, a different vulnerability than CVE-2014-4124.

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

Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 7 through 11 contains an elevation of privilege vulnerability that allows remote attackers to gain higher privileges via a specially crafted website. This was being actively exploited in the wild in October 2014 as a zero-day vulnerability.

MitigationApply Microsoft security update MS14-056 to patch the vulnerability across all affected systems, or consider disabling Internet Explorer and migrating to a supported browser.

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:= 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 if Internet Explorer is installed
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'appwiz.cpl' and look for Internet Explorer in the installed programs list
    Affected if Internet Explorer is present on the system and no patch has been applied
  2. Determine the installed Internet Explorer version
    Open Internet Explorer, click Help > About Internet Explorer, or type 'iexplore.exe' in the Run dialog and check the version in the About window
    Affected if The version is 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11
  3. Check for the security update KB2999226
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features > View installed updates, or run 'wmic qfe list' command to list installed hotfixes, and search for KB2999226
    Affected if The security update KB2999226 is NOT installed on the system
  4. Verify if users can browse to untrusted websites
    Review network proxy settings, firewall rules, and browser restriction policies to determine if users can access arbitrary websites
    Affected if Users have unrestricted internet access and can visit malicious websites hosting the exploit

If Internet Explorer versions 7-11 is installed, KB2999226 is missing, and users can browse to untrusted websites, the system is vulnerable to CVE-2014-4123

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

Apply Microsoft security update MS14-056 to patch the vulnerability across all affected systems, or consider disabling Internet Explorer and migrating to a supported browser.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 with security updates applied; or migrate to Microsoft Edge for Windows 10+

  1. Microsoft released security updates for this vulnerability as part of their monthly security update cycle. Obtain the relevant security update from Microsoft Update or the Microsoft Download Center.
  2. Identify the specific KB (Knowledge Base) article for CVE-2014-4123 from Microsoft's security bulletin (typically included in MS14-056 or similar cumulative IE update).
  3. Apply the security update through Windows Update, Microsoft Update, or manually download and install the appropriate KB article for your Windows version.
  4. Restart the system if prompted to complete the installation.
  5. Verify the update was successfully installed by checking the installed updates in Control Panel > Programs and Features > View installed updates.
Caveat None - this is a security patch with no functional changes; however, IE11 is deprecated and Microsoft Edge is recommended for Windows 10 and later

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
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-4123 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

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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-2014-4123 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