Security Updates for Windows Defender (September 2023)

high Nessus Plugin ID 181341

Synopsis

An antimalware application installed on the remote host is affected by an attack surface reduction vulnerability.

Description

The Malware Protection Engine version of Microsoft Windows Defender installed on the remote Windows host is prior to 1.1.23080.2005. It is, therefore, affected by an attack surface reduction vulnerability due to security features bypass. A remote attacker can trick a victim to open a specially crafted file and bypass the Windows Defender Attack Surface Reduction blocking feature.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Note: this plugin will not fire if Windows Defender is disabled.

Solution

Update Microsoft Defender to engine version 1.1.23080.2005 to address this issue.

See Also

http://www.nessus.org/u?3bed4ba6

http://www.nessus.org/u?d2a175a3

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 181341

File Name: smb_nt_ms23_sep_win_defender.nasl

Version: 1.5

Type: local

Agent: windows

Published: 9/13/2023

Updated: 6/13/2024

Supported Sensors: Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.7

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.2

Temporal Score: 5.3

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2023-38163

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.8

Temporal Score: 6.8

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:microsoft:windows, cpe:/a:microsoft:windows_defender

Required KB Items: installed_sw/Windows Defender

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 8/30/2023

Vulnerability Publication Date: 9/12/2023

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2023-38163

IAVA: 2023-A-0488-S