SmartScreen bypass via network-share Internet Shortcut
Published Nov 14, 2023 · Updated Oct 21, 2025
Security feature bypass in Microsoft Windows allows remote attackers to evade SmartScreen warnings through a crafted Internet Shortcut file. The shortcut's file-scheme target points to an attacker-controlled network share, so Windows retrieves and executes the referenced payload without SmartScreen checks or prompts. Exploitation requires a user to open the crafted .url file; successful use removes a warning that otherwise interposes before untrusted code execution.
Summary
What happened
Security feature bypass in Microsoft Windows allows remote attackers to evade SmartScreen warnings through a crafted Internet Shortcut file. The shortcut's file-scheme target points to an attacker-controlled network share, so Windows retrieves and executes the referenced payload without SmartScreen checks or prompts. Exploitation requires a user to open the crafted .url file; successful use removes a warning that otherwise interposes before untrusted code execution.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-36025
- Published
- Nov 14, 2023
- Updated
- Oct 21, 2025
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Windows 10 Version 1507
- Classifications
- T1204.002
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Nov 14, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Oct 21, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=10.0.10240.0 <10.0.10240.20308
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Crafted network-share Internet Shortcutfunctional · observed in use
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Reported exploitation
- CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities listingknown exploited catalog
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
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