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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Microsoft’s May 2023 updates addressed CVE-2023-29324, a reported bypass of the March fix for the Outlook vulnerability CVE-2023-23397. The two flaws are related but distinct: CVE-2023-23397 was the original no-interaction credential-theft issue, while CVE-2023-29324 undermined a mitigation intended to block it. Contemporary reporting recommended installing fixes for both.
What was CVE-2023-29324?
CVE-2023-29324 was reported as a way around a mitigation Microsoft had introduced for CVE-2023-23397. SecurityWeek reported that Akamai security researcher Ben Barnea found the follow-up issue and that Microsoft addressed it in the Windows MSHTML component in its May 2023 Patch Tuesday updates. SecurityWeek’s May 11, 2023 report described Microsoft as recommending fixes for both CVEs.
That distinction matters: CVE-2023-29324 was not the original Outlook vulnerability. It concerned a weakness in the earlier defense against that vulnerability.
How did the original Outlook vulnerability work?
According to SecurityWeek’s account of Barnea’s findings, CVE-2023-23397 involved a crafted email reminder that specified a sound file at a remote location. Processing the reminder could prompt Outlook to contact an attacker-controlled SMB server. During the connection negotiation, the client could send an NTLMv2 hash that could be used in credential theft. The report characterized the attack as zero-click: the recipient did not need to open or click the email.
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This describes the reported attack mechanism; it is not a claim of independent testing. The risk discussed was exposure of authentication material through a coerced network connection, not simply a malicious attachment that a user had to launch.
Why did Microsoft need a second patch?
SecurityWeek reported that Microsoft’s earlier mitigation used Windows’ MapUrlToZone API to check the path supplied for the reminder sound. If the path referred to an internet URL, Outlook would reject it and use a default reminder sound instead.
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Barnea reportedly found that a specially crafted URL could make the check treat a remote path as local. That could bypass the mitigation and still prompt a connection to the remote server. The May 2023 follow-up addressed this bypass in MSHTML; it was a second step in closing the reported attack path, not a replacement for distinguishing or addressing the original CVE.
How the two vulnerabilities differ
| Vulnerability | Role in the chain | Technical area described | Chronology and remediation |
|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2023-23397 | The original Outlook issue, reported as enabling credential theft without user interaction. | Outlook reminder handling and a remote SMB connection. | Microsoft issued an initial fix in March 2023; SecurityWeek recommended applying its fix as well as the later one. |
| CVE-2023-29324 | A reported bypass of the earlier mitigation for CVE-2023-23397. | The Windows MSHTML URL-zone check used by that mitigation. | Addressed in the May 2023 Patch Tuesday updates, according to SecurityWeek. |
What does MSHTML’s involvement mean?
MSHTML was not relevant only to Outlook: SecurityWeek noted its use in Internet Explorer mode in Microsoft Edge and by other applications through the WebBrowser control. That broader component context does not establish that every application using MSHTML, or every configuration, was exploitable. The report specifically describes the bypass in the context of the mitigation for the Outlook issue.
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Which updates should administrators check?
The contemporary recommendation was to apply fixes for both CVE-2023-23397 and CVE-2023-29324. For systems being maintained now, verify update status and current vendor guidance against the exact Windows and Outlook versions in the environment. The available Microsoft Security Update Guide pages do not provide enough detail here to state a complete affected-version matrix, KB list, or fixed-build table, so those identifiers should not be inferred from the broad MSHTML discussion. Consult Microsoft’s entries for CVE-2023-29324 and CVE-2023-23397, and confirm applicability for the installed products and supported servicing channels.
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