How to Fix CVE-2014-2817: Internet Explorer Elevation of Privilege (MS14-051)

By the Sai Kiran Pandrala · Reviewed and edited by Sai Kiran Pandrala, Editor

Patch immediately. CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog lists this CVE, which means active exploitation has been confirmed. CISA KEV entry added 2022-05-25, federal due date 2022-06-15.

What is CVE-2014-2817?

CVE-2014-2817 is an elevation-of-privilege vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer. The advisory describes it plainly: Internet Explorer 6 through 11 allows a remote attacker to gain privileges through a crafted web site, which Microsoft tracks as the "Internet Explorer Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability." In practice that means a booby-trapped web page can trick the browser into letting code run with more rights than the page should ever have, weakening the boundary that is supposed to keep web content sandboxed away from the rest of the machine.

The fix shipped on 12 August 2014 in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS14-051, the cumulative security update for Internet Explorer that month. That single bulletin rolled up a batch of IE fixes, and CVE-2014-2817 was one of the privilege-escalation entries inside it. Because Internet Explorer is serviced as a Windows component, there is no standalone "internetexplorer" package to upgrade and no clean version number to chase. You install the IE cumulative update that matches your Windows release, and the engine is patched in place.

One important note on the affected list. The CVE record itself stores the product and version as "n/a", but the human-readable description names the exact range: Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. Every one of those versions, on every Windows release that shipped them, needs the August 2014 IE cumulative update for this issue to be closed.

Why this CVE matters

This entry sits on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. Vulnerabilities only land there after active, observed exploitation in the wild, so this is not a theoretical risk. An elevation-of-privilege flaw in the browser is a favourite second stage for attackers: a user is lured to a malicious page, the page abuses the bug to climb out of the browser's limited context, and from there the attacker can plant malware, harvest credentials, or move laterally. The carrier is a web page, which is the single most common thing every user clicks all day.

The CVSS 3.1 base score is 8.8 (High). The vector tells the story: the attack comes over the network (AV:N), it is low complexity (AC:L), it needs no prior privileges (PR:N), and it requires one click of user interaction (UI:R), meaning the victim opens or is redirected to the attacker's page. When it lands, the impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability is each rated High. So the only real barrier is getting a victim to load a page, which phishing and malvertising solve every day.

If you still run any of the affected Internet Explorer versions and the August 2014 update never landed, treat any window of exposure as compromise-likely. That is especially true for legacy estates: Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 boxes that fell off the update train, kiosk and embedded machines pinned to an old IE build, and line-of-business apps that quietly spin up the IE engine to render an internal portal.

Am I affected?

You are affected if a machine runs Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11 and has not received the August 2014 (or any later) IE cumulative security update. Internet Explorer ships only on Windows, so there is nothing to check on Linux or macOS. Run these checks on the Windows host itself.

Check the installed Internet Explorer version:

# Installed Internet Explorer version (run in PowerShell)
(Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer').svcVersion
# Older builds expose the value under 'Version' instead of 'svcVersion':
(Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer').Version

List the security updates already on the box so you can see whether an IE cumulative update is present:

# Show installed updates, newest first
Get-HotFix | Sort-Object InstalledOn -Descending | Select-Object HotFixID, Description, InstalledOn

If no IE cumulative update from August 2014 or later appears, and the machine is still running one of the affected versions, the fix below applies to you.

How to fix CVE-2014-2817

The fix is the MS14-051 cumulative security update for Internet Explorer. It is delivered as a per-OS KB through the normal Windows servicing channels, not as a downloadable application installer. The exact KB number depends on which Windows version and IE version the machine runs, which is why the Microsoft bulletin lists a separate KB per platform rather than one universal build string. Pick the path that matches how you manage updates.

Option 1: Windows Update (single machine)

On a standalone or lightly managed machine, the simplest path is the built-in update client. Open Settings or Control Panel, run Windows Update, and install every available security update, then reboot. The August 2014 IE cumulative update is superseded by later rollups, so on a machine that has simply fallen behind, installing the latest available updates brings the IE engine current and closes this CVE along the way.

# Trigger an update scan and check what is pending (run as administrator)
UsoClient StartScan
# Then install through the Windows Update UI, or via the update client, and reboot.

Option 2: WSUS / SCCM / Intune (managed fleet)

In a managed environment, approve the Internet Explorer cumulative security update for the affected Windows builds in WSUS or your Configuration Manager software update group, target the device collection, and let the deployment install on the next maintenance window. Force an immediate evaluation on a test machine before fleet-wide rollout:

# Force the Configuration Manager client to scan and evaluate software updates
Invoke-WMIMethod -Namespace root\ccm -Class SMS_Client -Name TriggerSchedule -ArgumentList "{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000113}"
# Then deploy/install the approved IE cumulative update from the Software Center.

Option 3: Microsoft Update Catalog (offline / pinned KB)

For air-gapped, embedded, or version-pinned machines, download the exact MSU for your Windows build and IE version directly from the Microsoft Update Catalog, link the bulletin to the KB, then install the package locally:

# Bulletin: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2014/ms14-051
# Find the KB that matches your OS + IE version in the bulletin, download the MSU
# from the Microsoft Update Catalog (https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com),
# then install it and reboot.
wusa.exe C:\Patches\IE-cumulative-update.msu /quiet /norestart
shutdown /r /t 60

Internet Explorer is loaded by Explorer and other host processes, so a reboot is the clean way to make sure the patched binaries are the ones actually running afterward.

If you can't patch immediately

Patching with MS14-051 (or a later cumulative update) is the only durable fix. The steps below reduce exposure while you schedule the change; none of them remove the vulnerability.

• Stop using Internet Explorer for general browsing. Because the attack needs a victim to load a crafted page in IE, routing day-to-day browsing to a supported modern browser removes the trigger for most users. Reserve IE only for the legacy app that genuinely requires it.
• Raise the Internet zone security level. In Internet Options, set the Internet zone to High and add only trusted internal sites to the Trusted Sites zone. This restricts active content on untrusted pages, narrowing the window the exploit needs.
• Enable Enhanced Protected Mode on IE 10/11 where the line-of-business app tolerates it. It tightens the sandbox the elevation-of-privilege flaw tries to escape.
• Restrict who can launch Internet Explorer via AppLocker or Software Restriction Policies on machines that do not need it, shrinking the attack surface to the handful of users who truly require the IE engine.

These are stopgaps. A user who is socially engineered into the right page on an unpatched IE build is still at risk until the cumulative update is installed.

Verify the fix landed

After the cumulative update installs and the machine reboots, confirm the update is actually present rather than just queued:

# Confirm a specific IE cumulative KB is installed (substitute the KB from the bulletin)
Get-HotFix -Id KB<id-from-bulletin>
# Or review the most recent updates to confirm the IE rollup applied
Get-HotFix | Sort-Object InstalledOn -Descending | Select-Object -First 5

Re-read the Internet Explorer version string to confirm the engine moved forward:

(Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer').svcVersion

Finally, run an authenticated vulnerability scan with a current signature set and confirm the scanner no longer flags CVE-2014-2817 on the host. For any machine that browsed untrusted sites while unpatched, review proxy and endpoint logs over the exposure window for suspicious redirects, unexpected child processes spawned from iexplore.exe, and new local accounts or scheduled tasks. Those are the typical aftermath of a browser elevation-of-privilege foothold.

Frequently asked questions

Which Windows update fixes CVE-2014-2817?

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS14-051, the cumulative security update for Internet Explorer released on 12 August 2014. It ships as a per-OS KB cumulative update through Windows Update, WSUS, and the Microsoft Update Catalog. There is no single version string to type in: install the IE cumulative update that matches your Windows build and IE version (6 through 11).

Which versions of Internet Explorer are affected by CVE-2014-2817?

Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 are all affected per the Microsoft advisory. The flaw is an elevation-of-privilege issue triggered by a crafted web page, so any of those versions left unpatched is exploitable.

Is CVE-2014-2817 still relevant on modern Windows?

The MS14-051 update is rolled into later cumulative updates, so a fully patched Windows machine is already covered. The risk lives on legacy systems: Windows 7 / Server 2008 R2 hosts that stopped receiving updates, embedded or kiosk machines pinned to old IE builds, and line-of-business apps that still launch the IE engine. CISA added it to the KEV catalog in 2022 precisely because those unpatched legacy targets are still attacked.

Can I mitigate CVE-2014-2817 without installing the update?

Only partially. Raising the Internet zone security level, enabling Enhanced Protected Mode, or restricting who can run Internet Explorer reduces exposure, but none of those remove the bug. The MS14-051 cumulative update is the only durable fix. If you cannot patch, retire Internet Explorer for general browsing and route users to a supported browser.

References

• Official vendor advisory: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2014/ms14-051
• NVD entry: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-2817
• CISA KEV catalog: https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog
• CISA KEV record: https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2014-2817
• Additional reference: http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/69092
• Additional reference: http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1030715
• Additional reference: https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2014-2817

This guide was assembled from the official vendor advisory, the NVD record, and the CISA KEV catalog entry on 2026-05-25. Always confirm against the vendor advisory before applying changes in production.

Related fixes

Other defects in the same area that deserve attention during this patch cycle:

• How to Fix CVE-2014-4148: Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection') in Windows
• How to Fix CVE-2014-6352: Security vulnerability in Microsoft Windows
• How to Fix CVE-2014-0322: Use-After-Free in Microsoft Internet Explorer
• How to Fix CVE-2014-4123: Security Vulnerability in Internet Explorer
• How to Fix CVE-2014-6332: Memory Corruption in Microsoft Windows