Threats / Microsoft / CVE-2013-2551
CVE-2013-2551
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-06-22
Microsoft Internet Explorer vulnerability
Use-after-free vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer allows remote code execution through crafted websites. Actively exploited in the wild and associated with ransomware campaigns.
Verdict
Today item, not a backlog item.
A use-after-free flaw in Internet Explorer enables remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by triggering access to freed memory objects via malicious web content. High exploitation prevalence and ransomware deployment indicate severe operational risk.
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
10 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 2022-03-28), flagged for known ransomware use.
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.73918 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
Affected: Microsoft, Internet Explorer. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-416 Use After Free — weakness family: Memory safety.CWE assignment from the public NVD record; the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
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
Craft a malicious webpage that causes Internet Explorer to access a previously freed object in memory.
Business
Endpoint compromise and potential lateral movement into enterprise networks via browser-based attack vector.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
Achieve code execution with the privileges of the browsing user upon successful exploitation.
Business
Data theft, credential harvesting, or establishment of persistent backdoor access for follow-on attacks.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
Deploy ransomware payload or join compromised systems into botnet infrastructure.
Business
Operational disruption, financial extortion, and potential regulatory compliance violations from data exposure.
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