The analysis, assessment and warning about vulnerabilities in Microsoft products are activities periodically carried out by NCSC (Vietnamese traditional dishes, Hanoi), an arm of AIS, according to Microsoft’s issuance of lists of patching versions and vulnerabilities in its products.

The list of patching versions was released by Microsoft on October 8, which showed 121 new vulnerabilities, including 117 in its products and four in the products of third parties which may affect Microsoft.

After assessing the vulnerabilities shown in the list released by Microsoft, NCSC has requested that agencies, institutions and enterprises in Vietnam pay special attention to nine vulnerabilities which may have serious impact.

Of the nine vulnerabilities, seven carry out RCE (remote code execution) attacks, including CVE-2024-43468 in ‘Microsoft Configuration Manager’; CVE-2024-43582 in ‘Remote Desktop Protocol Server’; CVE-2024-43572 in ‘Microsoft Management Console’; CVE-2024-43504 in ‘Microsoft Excel’; two vulnerabilities CVE-2024-43576, CVE-2024-43616 in ‘Microsoft Office’; and CVE-2024-43505 in ‘Microsoft Office Visio’.

The agency pointed out that CVE-2024-43583 in ‘Microsoft Winlogon’ conduct privilege of escalation attacks. Meanwhile, CVE-2024-43573 in ‘Windows MSHTML Platform’ allows phishing attacks.

Of the nine vulnerabilities in Microsoft products, experts reported that CVE-2024-43583 in ‘Microsoft Winlogon’ has been made public, while the two vulnerabilities CVE-2024-43572 in ‘Microsoft Management Console’ and CVE-2024-43573 in ‘Windows MSHTML Platform’ are being exploited.

The vulnerabilities with serious impact levels and can be exploited by attackers to carry out illegal acts, causing information security risks and affecting information systems of agencies, organizations and businesses.

Therefore, AIS has recommended agencies, institutions and businesses in Vietnam to examine and define the computers using Windows operating system which may be affected.

If they find problems, the best solution they need is updating the patches for the vulnerabilities in accordance with guidance from Microsoft.

AIS has also requested units in Vietnam to strengthen supervision and get ready to respond to the signs of being exploited and attacked. They also need to keep close watch over reports by state agencies and large institutions in information security to discover risks.

NCSC’s monitoring and remote scanning system discovered 1,600 vulnerabilities on 5,000 systems opened publicly on the internet in September 2024.

Also in September, NCSC recognized 12 newly announced vulnerabilities with serious impact levels, which may be exploited to attack domestic agencies and organizations.

These vulnerabilities are flaws on common products of many agencies, organizations and businesses.