#microsoft

**Is this advisory related to the vulnerability that is documented by CVE-2023-36884 that was issued in July 2023?** Yes, this defense in depth update is not a vulnerability, but installing this update stops the attack chain leading to the Windows Search security feature bypass vulnerability (CVE-2023-36884). Microsoft recommends installing the Office updates discussed in this advisory as well as installing the Windows updates from August 2023.

**According to the CVSS metric, the attack vector is local (AV:L). Why does the CVE title indicate that this is a remote code execution?** The word **Remote** in the title refers to the location of the attacker. This type of exploit is sometimes referred to as Arbitrary Code Execution (ACE). The attack itself is carried out locally. For example, when the score indicates that the **Attack Vector** is **Local** and **User Interaction** is **Required**, this could describe an exploit in which an attacker, through social engineering, convinces a victim to download and open a specially crafted file from a website which leads to a local attack on their computer.

**According to the CVSS metric, the attack vector is local (AV:L). Why does the CVE title indicate that this is a remote code execution?** The word **Remote** in the title refers to the location of the attacker. This type of exploit is sometimes referred to as Arbitrary Code Execution (ACE). The attack itself is carried out locally. For example, when the score indicates that the **Attack Vector** is **Local** and **User Interaction** is **Required**, this could describe an exploit in which an attacker, through social engineering, convinces a victim to download and open a specially crafted file from a website which leads to a local attack on their computer.

**According to the CVSS metric, the attack vector is network (AV:N) and the user interaction is required (UI:R). What is the target context of the remote code execution?** An authenticated victim who is connected to the network must be tricked or persuaded to connect to a malicious SQL database using their SQL client application. After the connection is made, the server can send specially crafted replies to the client that exploit the vulnerability and permit execution of arbitrary code within the context of the user's SQL client application.

Mitigation refers to a setting, common configuration, or general best-practice, existing in a default state, that could reduce the severity of exploitation of a vulnerability. The following mitigating factors might be helpful in your situation: The Windows message queuing service, which is a Windows component, needs to be enabled for a system to be exploitable by this vulnerability. This feature can be added via the Control Panel. You can check to see if there is a service running named **Message Queuing** and TCP port 1801 is listening on the machine.

**According to the CVSS metric, user interaction is required (UI:R). What interaction would the user have to do?** A user would have to open a maliciously crafted email sent to Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement.

**According to the CVSS metric, privileges required is low (PR:L). Does the attacker need to be in an authenticated role on the Exchange Server?** Yes, the attacker must be authenticated.

**What type of information could be disclosed by this vulnerability?** An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could potentially read User Mode Service Memory.

Mitigation refers to a setting, common configuration, or general best-practice, existing in a default state, that could reduce the severity of exploitation of a vulnerability. The following mitigating factors might be helpful in your situation: The Windows message queuing service, which is a Windows component, needs to be enabled for a system to be exploitable by this vulnerability. This feature can be added via the Control Panel. You can check to see if there is a service running named **Message Queuing** and TCP port 1801 is listening on the machine.

Mitigation refers to a setting, common configuration, or general best-practice, existing in a default state, that could reduce the severity of exploitation of a vulnerability. The following mitigating factors might be helpful in your situation: The Windows message queuing service, which is a Windows component, needs to be enabled for a system to be exploitable by this vulnerability. This feature can be added via the Control Panel. You can check to see if there is a service running named **Message Queuing** and TCP port 1801 is listening on the machine.