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CVE-2010-0249

High 8.8 Exploited in the wild (KEV)

Confirmed active exploitation — CISA KEV catalog

Name
Microsoft Internet Explorer Use-After-Free Vulnerability
Added to catalog
Remediation due date (US federal)
Required action
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Description

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."

Metrics

CVSS 3.1
8.8 (HIGH) Score source: NVD CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS — exploit probability
92% (percentile: 100) as of 1 November 2026
CWE
CWE-416

Affected products

microsoft: internet explorer; microsoft: windows 2000; microsoft: windows server 2003; microsoft: windows xp; microsoft: windows server 2008; microsoft: windows vista; microsoft: windows 7

References