Microsoft IME Japanese Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
CVE-2014-4077 is a security vulnerability in Microsoft Input Method Editor (IME) Japanese, added to CISA KEV on May 25, 2022. Patch priority: Plan to patch.
What it is
Microsoft Input Method Editor (IME) Japanese is a keyboard with Japanese characters that can be enabled on Windows systems as it is included by default (with the default set as disabled). IME Japanese contains an unspecified vulnerability when IMJPDCT.EXE (IME for Japanese) is installed which allows attackers to bypass a sandbox and perform privilege escalation.
VulnCheck tracked exploitation 2752 days before CISA's KEV listing. VulnCheck's broader catalog of in-the-wild exploitation evidence picked this up before it landed on CISA's formal list. Per-CVE fact about this entry; not a population claim about lead time in general.
Who's affected
Affects anyone running Microsoft Input Method Editor (IME) Japanese. Microsoft products in a small practice typically sit close to credentials, email, or document workflows — treat the patch as in-scope.
What to do
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
If you don't have someone in-house to verify the patch deployed across every endpoint — or you're not sure whether you're affected — that's exactly the kind of triage we do. Book a free 20-minute triage call.
Insurance readiness
Your insurer will ask if this is patched.
Unpatched entries on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list are exactly what cyber-insurance carrier questionnaires probe for, and knowing which controls they check is how you keep a renewal from stalling.
Get the free carrier questionnaire →Severity
CVSS base score: 7.8 — HIGH
CISA due date
Federal deadline: June 15, 2022. Federal agencies must complete the required action by this date. For private SMBs the deadline is advisory — but treat it as a strong recommendation, especially if you handle regulated data (HIPAA, GLBA, ABA model rules).
EPSS
EPSS score: 47.7% — higher than 99% of all scored CVEs.
EPSS estimates the probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days. Every entry on this site is already confirmed exploited, so read it as relative urgency among the things you still have open, not as permission to wait.
Source
This entry comes from CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, public US-Government data we pull daily. The plain-language framing and the what-to-do guidance above are ours. View the original entry on cisa.gov.