Threats / Microsoft / CVE-2017-11774
CVE-2017-11774
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Microsoft Office vulnerability
Microsoft Office Outlook security feature bypass via improper memory object handling enables remote command execution.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
CVE-2017-11774 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Outlook that circumvents security controls, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary commands on affected systems. Active exploitation in the wild increases risk.
CISA KEV Yes · 2021-11-034EPSS 0.59893 (verify live)5Exploit Public PoC6CVSS 7.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Public proof-of-concept exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
6 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 0.59893 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 7.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Microsoft, Office. 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-119 Memory Buffer Bounds Error — weakness family: Memory safety.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 1482 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.
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 Office document or email attachment that exploits improper memory handling in Outlook.
Business
End users receive weaponized content that bypasses email security filters and Outlook protections.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I trigger the vulnerability when the user opens or previews the malicious content in Outlook.
Business
Attackers gain code execution on user workstations with the privileges of the Outlook process.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I execute arbitrary commands to establish persistence, steal credentials, or deploy secondary payloads.
Business
Organizations face data exfiltration, lateral movement, and potential system compromise across the network.
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