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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 14 Jun 2022.
Windows 10 1507Operating system · Microsoft

CVE-2017-8543

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2017-06-15
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 High EPSS 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
Microsoft Windows XP SP3, Windows XP x64 XP2, Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows Vista, Windows 7 SP1, Windows Server 2008 SP2 and R2 SP1, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2012 and R2, Windows 10 Gold, 1511, 1607, and 1703, and Windows Server 2016 allow an attacker to take control of the affected system when Windows Search fails to handle objects in memory, aka "Windows Search Remote Code Execution Vulnerability".

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

This is a memory handling vulnerability in the Windows Search service (wsearch.dll) where the service fails to properly handle objects in memory, leading to memory corruption that can be exploited for remote code execution. An unauthenticated attacker can send specially crafted SMB or WNS requests to trigger the vulnerability and execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges.

MitigationApply the relevant Microsoft security patches (MS17-010 and subsequent cumulative updates) immediately to all affected Windows systems. As an interim mitigation, disable the Windows Search service or block inbound SMB/WNS traffic at the network perimeter if the service is not required.

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 1511Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 10 1607Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 10 1703Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 7Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 8.1Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows Rt 8.1Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows Server 2008Operating system
Affected:all versions= r2

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. Identify Windows version
    Run 'winver' or 'systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"' to determine the installed Windows version
    Affected if The version is Windows 10 1507, 1511, 1607, or 1703; Windows 7; Windows 8.1; Windows Rt 8.1; Windows Server 2008; or Windows Server 2008 R2
  2. Verify Windows Search service status
    Open Services (services.msc) or run 'sc query WinDefend' to check if the Windows Search service (service name: WSearch) is running
    Affected if The Windows Search service is installed and running on the system
  3. Confirm service is enabled at startup
    Run 'sc qc WSearch' to query the service configuration and check the START_TYPE setting
    Affected if The service START_TYPE is set to AUTO_START (value 2) meaning it starts automatically with Windows
  4. Check for security update installation
    Run 'wmic qfe list' or check Windows Update history for the relevant security patch (refer to Microsoft security bulletin MS17-013 or CVE-2017-8543)
    Affected if The security update for CVE-2017-8543 is NOT installed on the system
  5. Verify SMB and Windows Search listener status
    Run 'netsh int tcp show global' to check TCP listening settings and verify if Windows Search listener is bound to network ports
    Affected if Windows Search is listening on network ports and accessible without authentication

A system is affected if it runs any of the listed Windows versions with Windows Search service enabled AND the CVE-2017-8543 security update has not been installed.

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 portal.msrc.microsoft.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply the relevant Microsoft security patches (MS17-010 and subsequent cumulative updates) immediately to all affected Windows systems. As an interim mitigation, disable the Windows Search service or block inbound SMB/WNS traffic at the network perimeter if the service is not required.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to the latest supported Windows version (Windows 10 21H2 or later, Windows 11, or Windows Server 2019/2022)

  1. Locate and download the appropriate Microsoft security update for CVE-2017-8543 from the Microsoft Security Response Center (portal.msrc.microsoft.com)
  2. Identify your specific Windows version and architecture (x86 or x64)
  3. Download the corresponding security update patch (MS17-010 addresses this vulnerability along with other SMB vulnerabilities)
  4. Apply the security update via Windows Update or by manually installing the downloaded patch
  5. Restart the affected system to complete the patch installation
  6. Verify the update was successfully installed by checking Windows Update history or viewing installed updates
  7. For Windows XP/Server 2003 systems (which are end-of-life): consider upgrading to a supported Windows version as no official patches are available
Caveat Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 are end-of-life and receive no security updates; legacy applications may have compatibility issues when upgrading

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

Fix this in Windows 10 1507 Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,280
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,448.

Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2017-8543 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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