📄 Description (English)
Microsoft Internet Explorer Remote Code Execution Vulnerability — A remote code execution vulnerability exists when Internet Explorer improperly accesses objects in memory.
🤖 AI Executive Summary
CVE-2017-0222 is a critical remote code execution vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer caused by improper memory object access. With a CVSS score of 9.0 and known exploits available, an attacker could execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user by luring them to a specially crafted webpage. This vulnerability has been actively exploited and poses significant risk to organizations still running legacy Internet Explorer browsers. A patch has been available since May 2017, making unpatched systems highly vulnerable.
📄 Description (Arabic)
🤖 AI Intelligence Analysis Analyzed: Apr 7, 2026 09:00
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia Impact Assessment
This vulnerability poses significant risk to Saudi organizations that still rely on legacy Internet Explorer browsers, particularly in government agencies (NCA-regulated entities), banking institutions (SAMA-regulated), and healthcare systems that often use legacy web applications requiring IE. Saudi government portals and internal enterprise applications that mandate IE compatibility are especially at risk. Energy sector organizations including ARAMCO and its contractors, as well as telecom providers like STC, may have legacy systems still dependent on Internet Explorer. The availability of public exploits makes this an attractive target for threat actors targeting Saudi critical infrastructure.
🏢 Affected Saudi Sectors
Government
Banking
Healthcare
Energy
Telecom
Education
Defense
⚖️ Saudi Risk Score (AI)
7.8
/ 10.0
🔧 Remediation Steps (English)
Immediate Actions:
1. Apply Microsoft security update MS17-007 or the cumulative update from May 2017 (KB4019215, KB4019216, KB4019264, KB4019472, or KB4018271 depending on OS version) immediately.
2. Audit all systems for Internet Explorer usage and identify machines still running unpatched versions.
Patching Guidance:
3. Migrate users from Internet Explorer to Microsoft Edge or other modern browsers (Chrome, Firefox).
4. If IE is required for legacy applications, implement application isolation using virtual machines or application virtualization.
Compensating Controls:
5. Deploy Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) or Windows Defender Exploit Guard on systems that cannot be immediately patched.
6. Restrict Internet Explorer from accessing untrusted websites via proxy/URL filtering.
7. Configure IE security zones to maximum security settings for Internet and Restricted Sites zones.
8. Disable Active Scripting in the Internet security zone.
Detection Rules:
9. Monitor for suspicious IE child processes (cmd.exe, powershell.exe, wscript.exe spawned by iexplore.exe).
10. Deploy IDS/IPS signatures for CVE-2017-0222 exploitation attempts.
11. Enable Windows Event logging for process creation (Event ID 4688) with command-line auditing.
🔧 خطوات المعالجة (العربية)
الإجراءات الفورية:
1. تطبيق تحديث الأمان من Microsoft MS17-007 أو التحديث التراكمي من مايو 2017 (KB4019215 أو KB4019216 أو KB4019264 أو KB4019472 أو KB4018271 حسب إصدار نظام التشغيل) فوراً.
2. مراجعة جميع الأنظمة لاستخدام Internet Explorer وتحديد الأجهزة التي لا تزال تعمل بإصدارات غير محدثة.
إرشادات التصحيح:
3. نقل المستخدمين من Internet Explorer إلى Microsoft Edge أو متصفحات حديثة أخرى (Chrome، Firefox).
4. إذا كان IE مطلوباً للتطبيقات القديمة، تنفيذ عزل التطبيقات باستخدام الأجهزة الافتراضية أو المحاكاة الافتراضية للتطبيقات.
الضوابط التعويضية:
5. نشر أداة EMET أو Windows Defender Exploit Guard على الأنظمة التي لا يمكن تصحيحها فوراً.
6. تقييد Internet Explorer من الوصول إلى المواقع غير الموثوقة عبر تصفية الوكيل/عناوين URL.
7. تكوين مناطق أمان IE إلى أقصى إعدادات الأمان لمناطق الإنترنت والمواقع المقيدة.
8. تعطيل البرمجة النشطة في منطقة أمان الإنترنت.
قواعد الكشف:
9. مراقبة العمليات الفرعية المشبوهة لـ IE (مثل cmd.exe و powershell.exe و wscript.exe المنبثقة من iexplore.exe).
10. نشر توقيعات IDS/IPS لمحاولات استغلال CVE-2017-0222.
11. تمكين تسجيل أحداث Windows لإنشاء العمليات (معرف الحدث 4688) مع تدقيق سطر الأوامر.
📋 Regulatory Compliance Mapping
🟢 NCA ECC 2024
2-3-1 (Patch Management)
2-5-1 (Vulnerability Management)
2-2-1 (Asset Management)
2-6-1 (Endpoint Protection)
🔵 SAMA CSF
3.3.3 (Patch Management)
3.3.5 (Vulnerability Management)
3.3.7 (Endpoint Security)
3.1.1 (Cybersecurity Risk Management)
🟡 ISO 27001:2022
A.8.8 (Management of Technical Vulnerabilities)
A.8.9 (Configuration Management)
A.8.7 (Protection Against Malware)
A.8.23 (Web Filtering)
🟣 PCI DSS v4.0
6.3.3 (Install Critical Security Patches)
5.2 (Deploy Anti-Malware)
6.2 (Develop Secure Systems)
11.3 (Penetration Testing)
🔗 References & Sources 0
No references.
📦 Affected Products / CPE 1 entries
Microsoft:Internet Explorer