Critical Microsoft Outlook RCE Flaw Actively Exploited

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued an urgent advisory warning U.S. federal agencies about an actively exploited Microsoft Outlook remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-21413.

Originally discovered by Check Point vulnerability researcher Haifei Li, this vulnerability

stems from improper input validation when handling malicious links in affected Outlook versions. This technique is hazardous, allowing threat actors to bypass traditional email security measures, making detection and mitigation more challenging for security operations teams. By exploiting this flaw, attackers can not only evade Protected View but also execute harmful Office documents even in preview mode, increasing the risk of compromise.

With the February 27 compliance deadline looming under Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 22-01, federal agencies must take immediate action to mitigate this risk. However, private sector organizations should also consider the severe financial, legal, and reputational consequences of failing to patch this vulnerability.

Why Does This Matter for Your Business?

The CVE-2024-21413 is one of the technical vulnerabilities that represent a clear and present danger to enterprises across all sectors. If the exploitation is successful, it can lead to:

Remote Code Execution (RCE): Attackers can execute arbitrary code on vulnerable

systems, potentially leading to full system compromise.

NTLM Credential Theft: Threat actors can harvest hashed login credentials,
enabling further network infiltration.
Bypassing Security Controls: The exploit deceives Microsoft’s Protected View,
which typically blocks malicious content from executing.

On top of that, such vulnerabilities highlight serious compliance risks under frameworks

which include:

Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) - Organizations must ensure the security of digital products throughout their lifecycle, making timely patching a crucial requirement.
ISO/IEC 27001 - Vulnerability management program is essential for maintaining

compliance with information security standards.

Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) - Financial entities are required to implement robust ICT risk management, including timely remediation of known vulnerabilities.
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - A breach resulting from unpatched software could lead to regulatory penalties for failing to safeguard sensitive data.

How Cytopus Can Help Your Business?

Our team of experts ensures that your organization has implemented solutions to prevent attackers from exploiting known and proactive vulnerabilities such as CVE-2024-21413.

We will help you with:

Compliance and Regulatory Alignment: Our experts conduct compliance audits to identify gaps in security practices and ensure you meet legal and industry-specific cybersecurity requirements, such as in (GDPR, DORA, CRA, and others).
Vulnerability Management: Cytopus ensures that vulnerabilities in your IT infrastructure are identified and mitigated before attackers exploit them.
Continuous Monitoring and Threat Detections: We provide monitoring solutions to detect unusual activities across your systems, networks, and cloud environments.
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan: Cytopus helps businesses develop and test robust disaster recovery strategies, ensuring uninterrupted operations in the event of ransomware attacks, system failures, or other cybersecurity incidents.