Threats / Microsoft / CVE-2022-41049
CVE-2022-41049
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-06-22
Microsoft Windows vulnerability
Microsoft Windows Mark of the Web security feature bypass allows attackers to circumvent integrity protections, potentially enabling execution of untrusted content with reduced security warnings.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
A security feature bypass in Windows MOTW allows attackers to evade zone-of-origin protections designed to warn users about potentially dangerous downloaded files, reducing the effectiveness of built-in safety mechanisms.
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
3 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 2022-11-14).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.02503 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
Affected: Microsoft, Windows. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-274 CWE-274.CWE assignment from the public NVD record; the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
WeaknessCWE-274 · CWE-274
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
I craft a malicious file and use techniques to strip or spoof the Mark of the Web indicator that normally identifies downloaded content.
Business
Users lose visibility into file origin and download status, increasing risk of executing malware without appropriate security warnings.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I deliver the unmarked file to a target, relying on the absence of security prompts to increase execution likelihood.
Business
Attack success rates improve as users bypass or ignore fewer security dialogs, leading to higher compromise rates and potential data loss.
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