CVE-2014-4077 — Microsoft IME Japanese Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 SP2 and R2 SP1, Windows 7 SP1, and Office 2007 SP3, when IMJPDCT.EXE (aka IME for Japanese) is installed, allow remote attackers to bypass a sandbox protection mechanism via a crafted PDF document, aka &quo

01What is this vulnerability?

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 SP2 and R2 SP1, Windows 7 SP1, and Office 2007 SP3, when IMJPDCT.EXE (aka IME for Japanese) is installed, allow remote attackers to bypass a sandbox protection mechanism via a crafted PDF document, aka "Microsoft IME (Japanese) Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability," as exploited in the wild in 2014.

02Affected products

Vendor	Product	Versions
n	a / n/a	n/a

03Active exploitation status

Yes — actively exploited. Added to the CISA KEV catalog on 2022-05-25. Ransomware use: Unknown.

04Recommended remediation

• Patch to a fixed version listed in the vendor advisory (see references below).
• Mitigate with WAF rules, network egress filters, or feature flags where the patch is not yet available.
• Hunt historical logs for exploitation indicators — see Detection signatures below.

05Technical details

For the full vendor write-up, exploit chains, and reference implementations, see the references list in section 09.

06Detection signatures

Open the Sigma generator with a pre-filled prompt for this CVE to draft a starting detection in your stack of choice:

Open in Sigma generator →

07Related CVEs

No directly-cited follow-up CVEs in the KB record for this advisory. The references list in section 09 carries the vendor cross-references.

08Timeline

• Published: 2014-11-11T22:00:00.000Z
• Last modified: 2025-10-22T00:05:34.855Z
• Added to CISA KEV: 2022-05-25
• BOD 22-01 due: 2022-06-15

09References

• www.securitytracker.com — http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1031197
• blogs.technet.com — http://blogs.technet.com/b/srd/archive/2014/11/11/assessing-risk-for-the-novembe…
• docs.microsoft.com — https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/securitybulletins/2014/ms14-07…
• www.securitytracker.com — http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1031196