Process Explorer before 17.04 allows attackers to make it functionally unavailable (a…
Priority MEDIUM 53CWE-120Published · Updated
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- High
- User interaction
- Required
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- No fix listed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-120 and the CVSS impact.
Summary
Process Explorer before 17.04 allows attackers to make it functionally unavailable (a denial of service for analysis) by renaming an executable file to a new extensionless 255-character name and launching it with NtCreateUserProcess. This can occur through an issue in wcscat_s error handling.
Why it matters now
Exploitation Proof of concept CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00271 19th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix No fix listed No fixed version in the sources yet
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | all versions | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- — Vendor— Affected all versions Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
Remediation
No fixed version listed by the sources yet.
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-42757
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-4996-x4q8-5x37
References
Sources
- CVE-2023-42757 · CVE Program
- CVE-2023-42757 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-4996-x4q8-5x37 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
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