CVE-2010-0249
Published on January 15, 2010

Use-after-free vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, 6 SP1, 7, and 8 on Windows 2000 SP4; Windows XP SP2 and SP3; Windows Server 2003 SP2; Windows Vista Gold, SP1, and SP2; Windows Server 2008 Gold, SP2, and R2; and Windows 7 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by accessing a pointer associated with a deleted object, related to incorrectly initialized memory and improper handling of objects in memory, as exploited in the wild in December 2009 and January 2010 during Operation Aurora, aka "HTML Object Memory Corruption Vulnerability."

Vendor Advisory Vendor Advisory NVD

Known Exploited Vulnerability

This Microsoft Internet Explorer Use-After-Free Vulnerability is part of CISA's list of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities. Microsoft Internet Explorer contains an use-after-free vulnerability that could allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by accessing a pointer associated with a deleted object. The impacted product could be end-of-life (EoL) and/or end-of-service (EoS). Users should discontinue product utilization.

The following remediation steps are recommended / required by June 3, 2026: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2010-0249 can be exploited with network access, requires user interaction. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. This vulnerability is known to be actively exploited by threat actors. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be very high.

Attack Vector:
NETWORK
Attack Complexity:
LOW
Privileges Required:
NONE
User Interaction:
REQUIRED
Scope:
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact:
HIGH
Integrity Impact:
HIGH
Availability Impact:
HIGH

Weakness Type

What is a Dangling pointer Vulnerability?

Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code.

CVE-2010-0249 has been classified to as a Dangling pointer vulnerability or weakness.


Exploit Probability

EPSS
90.06%
Percentile
99.60%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.