What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2019-0985: Microsoft Speech API Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

• Severity: medium (CVSS 6.8 v2.0)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 3.5% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: none known
• Published: 2019-06-12 · updated 2026-06-17
• Weakness: CWE-787

Description

A remote code execution vulnerability exists when the Microsoft Speech API (SAPI) improperly handles text-to-speech (TTS) input. The vulnerability could corrupt memory in a way that enables an attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user. To exploit the vulnerability, an attacker would need to convince a user to open a specially crafted document containing TTS content invoked through a scripting language. The update address the vulnerability by modifying how the system handles objects in memory.

Affected products

• Microsoft Windows 7: all versions
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008: r2-sp1
• Microsoft Windows 7: from 6.1.0 before publication — fixed in publication
• Microsoft Windows 7 Service Pack 1: from 6.1.0 before publication — fixed in publication
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1: from 6.1.7601.0 before publication — fixed in publication
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Systems Service Pack 1: from 6.1.0 before publication — fixed in publication

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Microsoft Windows 7 publication; Microsoft Windows 7 Service Pack 1 publication; Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 publication; Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Systems Service Pack 1 publication. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2019-0985
• https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2019-0985

Get alerted when CVE-2019-0985 or the next vulnerability affects your stack