Technical Information

Brief overview of the risk:

A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the Windows Remote Desktop Client when a user connects to a malicious server. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could execute arbitrary code on the computer of the connecting client. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.

Detailed Information on the risk:
To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to have control of a server and then convince a user to connect to it. An attacker would have no way of forcing a user to connect to the malicious server, they would need to trick the user into connecting via social engineering, DNS poisoning or using a Man in the Middle (MITM) technique. An attacker could also compromise a legitimate server, host malicious code on it, and wait for the user to connect. The update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how the Windows Remote Desktop Client handles connection requests.We have not seen any malware exploiting this vulnerability so far. But, we recommend to update the Windows by installing the September patch from Microsoft.

Recommendations:
1. Connect only to trusted servers using RDP
2. Use VPN for secure connection to avoid MITM attacks
3. Do not click on links in emails from unknown senders

Further information on this vulnerability is available at : CVE-2019-0788