Threats / Microsoft / CVE-2023-36584
CVE-2023-36584
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-09-19
Microsoft Windows vulnerability
Microsoft Windows Mark of the Web (MOTW) security feature bypass allows attackers to circumvent integrity and availability protections, enabling malicious content to execute with reduced security warnings.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
A security feature bypass in Windows MOTW that has been exploited in the wild. Attackers can bypass security warnings and protections, though impact is limited to integrity and availability of security mechanisms rather than direct system compromise.
CISA KEV Yes · 2023-11-165EPSS 0.03055 (verify live)6CVSS 5.43CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total4
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 2023-11-16).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.03055 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 5.4 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L/E:F/RL:O/RC:C) · Affected: Microsoft, Windows. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CNA-assigned (CVE.org), version 3.1, set at disclosure.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 37 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
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 strip or manipulate the Mark of the Web attribute to bypass security warnings.
Business
Users are exposed to malware distribution with reduced detection, increasing infection rates and support costs.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I deliver the file through email or web download, relying on the bypassed MOTW protection to avoid triggering SmartScreen or other warnings.
Business
Security controls fail to alert users, resulting in preventable breaches and compromised endpoints across the organization.
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
Coverage & confidence
— what we know, and what we don’tEstablished (cited)
Coverage gaps — stated, not hidden
Disclosure & credit2
Catalogued by microsoftCNA
Credited with finding itEli Birkan , Dan Yashnik, and Bar Lahav with Palo Alto Networksfinder
Found an error? Propose a correction.
A correction is a cited counter-claim — it must cite a source,
gets reviewed by a second human, and is never auto-applied. See the
correction convention and our identity
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