Threats / Microsoft / CVE-2012-0158
CVE-2012-0158
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Microsoft MSCOMCTL.OCX vulnerability
Microsoft MSCOMCTL.OCX contains a code injection vulnerability enabling remote code execution with user-level privileges. The flaw has been actively exploited in the wild.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
An attacker can execute arbitrary code on vulnerable systems by exploiting unsafe code evaluation in MSCOMCTL.OCX. Active exploitation in the wild combined with high EPSS score indicates immediate risk to unpatched deployments.
CISA KEV Yes · 2021-11-034EPSS 0.9997 (verify live)5CVSS 8.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total3Exploit Weaponized · public exploit · Metasploit module11
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
85 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.9997 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 8.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Microsoft, MSCOMCTL.OCX. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-94 Code Injection — weakness family: Injection.CWE assignment from the public NVD record (may be stale); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 3494 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
Public exploit available
Public exploit tooling is catalogued for this CVE (a functional/weaponized public exploit). Catalog entries: Metasploit module. We link the catalog page(s) only — no payload or code is hosted or restated here.Link, never host — the catalog page is the source; basicsecurity.net does not redistribute payloads.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I craft a malicious document or web content that triggers unsafe code evaluation in MSCOMCTL.OCX when processed by a target user.
Business
Employees opening untrusted files or visiting compromised websites become vectors for system compromise and data theft.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I execute arbitrary code within the security context of the user who opened the malicious content, gaining their system access level.
Business
Attackers obtain credentials, intellectual property, and lateral movement capabilities within corporate networks.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I establish persistence and exfiltrate sensitive data or deploy additional malware payloads across the compromised environment.
Business
Organizations face data breaches, operational disruption, and potential regulatory penalties from widespread system compromise.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05