H3XAOperational intelligence
Live analytical pictureEvidence before assessment
TypeTechnique
External ID—
First seen2026-08-14
Last seen2026-08-14

Confidence

—

Compiled HTML files (.chm) are commonly distributed as part of the Microsoft HTML Help system. CHM files are compressed compilations of various content such as HTML documents, images, and scripting/web related programming languages such VBA, JScript, Java, and ActiveX. (Citation: Microsoft HTML Help May 2018) CHM content is displayed using underlying components of the Internet Explorer browser (Citation: Microsoft HTML Help ActiveX) loaded by the HTML Help executable program (hh.exe). (Citation: Microsoft HTML Help Executable Program) Adversaries may abuse this technology to conceal malicious code. A custom CHM file containing embedded payloads could be delivered to a victim then triggered by [User Execution](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1204). CHM execution may also bypass application whitelisting on older and/or unpatched systems that do not account for execution of binaries through hh.exe. (Citation: MsitPros CHM Aug 2017) (Citation: Microsoft CVE-2017-8625 Aug 2017)

1 recorded

Relationships

revoked-byTechnique
6 external

References

mitre-attack
T1223
open
Microsoft HTML Help May 2018
https://docs.microsoft.com/previous-versions/windows/desktop/htmlhelp/microsoft-html-help-1-4-sdk
open
Microsoft HTML Help ActiveX
https://msdn.microsoft.com/windows/desktop/ms644670
open
Microsoft HTML Help Executable Program
https://msdn.microsoft.com/windows/desktop/ms524405
open
MsitPros CHM Aug 2017
https://msitpros.com/?p=3909
open
Microsoft CVE-2017-8625 Aug 2017
https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2017-8625
open