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NVD / CVE Program· CNA microsoft

CVE-2022-21882: Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Noroxi assessment

Priority: This week (action score 79/100)

  • CISA has confirmed exploitation in the wild (Feb 4, 2022); it is known to be used in ransomware campaigns. Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: Feb 18, 2022.
  • A ready-made attack module is public (Metasploit); exploiting it takes no special expertise.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 59.2% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 99.1% of all records.
  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • According to the record, no fixed version is available yet.
  • Mentioned 1 time in Turkish national cyber security advisories (siberguvenlik.gov.tr).

Don’t wait for the next maintenance window. Until a fix is released, restrict access to the affected component and follow the vendor's advisory.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · CISA KEV · FIRST EPSS

HighCVSS 7.8 · v3.1KEVWeaponized No fix recorded
Published
Jan 11, 2022
Updated
Aug 15, 2026
EPSS
59.2% · 99th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

79

This week

Don’t wait for the next maintenance window.

CVSS
31 / 40 · 7.8 / 10
CISA KEV
30 / 30 · Listed
EPSS
18 / 30 · 59.2%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
active
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
7.8
CNA · microsoft
7.0
0.8 point gap

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Actively exploited in the wild

CISA added this to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on Feb 4, 2022. That signals real attacks, not theory.

Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: Feb 18, 2022.

Known to be used in ransomware campaigns.

Get told when this record changes

  • In CISA KEV: exploitation in the wild confirmed
  • Weaponized exploit exists
  • No fixed version yet

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2022-21882

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
microsoftwindows 10 1809
microsoftwindows 10 1909
microsoftwindows 10 20h2
microsoftwindows 10 21h1
microsoftwindows 10 21h2
microsoftwindows 11 21h2
microsoftwindows server 2019
microsoftwindows server 2022
microsoftwindows server 20h2

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • microsoft windows server 2019before 10.0.17763.2452
  • microsoft windows server 2022before 10.0.20348.469
  • microsoft windows server 20h2before 10.0.19042.1466

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (microsoft). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1809

    • 10.0.17763.0 and later · before 10.0.17763.2452affected
    • 10.0.0 and later · before 10.0.17763.2452affected

  • Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1909

    • 10.0.0 and later · before 10.0.18363.2037affected

  • Microsoft Windows 10 Version 20H2

    • 10.0.0 and later · before 10.0.19042.1466affected

  • Microsoft Windows 10 Version 21H1

    • 10.0.0 and later · before 10.0.19043.1466affected

  • Microsoft Windows 10 Version 21H2

    • 10.0.19043.0 and later · before 10.0.19044.1466affected

  • Microsoft Windows 11 version 21H2

    • 10.0.0 and later · before 10.0.22000.434affected

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2019

    • 10.0.17763.0 and later · before 10.0.17763.2452affected

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation)

    • 10.0.17763.0 and later · before 10.0.17763.2452affected

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2022

    • 10.0.20348.0 and later · before 10.0.20348.469affected

  • Microsoft Windows Server version 20H2

    • 10.0.0 and later · before 10.0.19042.1466affected

Same product

microsoft: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2024-21412Internet Shortcut Files Security Feature Bypass VulnerabilityKEV
    92Now
  • CVE-2021-36934Windows Elevation of Privilege VulnerabilityKEV
    81Now
  • CVE-2024-29988SmartScreen Prompt Security Feature Bypass VulnerabilityKEV
    79This week

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2021-36948Aug 12, 2021 · Windows Update Medic Service Elevation of Privilege VulnerabilityKEV
    68This week
  • ← EarlierCVE-2021-40450Oct 12, 2021 · Win32k Elevation of Privilege VulnerabilityKEV
    61This week
  • Later →CVE-2022-21971Feb 9, 2022 · Windows Runtime Remote Code Execution VulnerabilityKEV
    77This week

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

No fix version is recorded for this entry. Check the references for vendor advisories.

Exploit status

Weaponized

A ready exploit tool or active in-the-wild use is known for this vulnerability. This should be your top priority.

Evidence

  • Metasploit module ×1
  • Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub ×5

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
SourceKindDate
Metasploit moduleexploit/windows/local/cve_2022_21882_win32kWin32k ConsoleControl Offset Confusionexploit2021-02-09
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:4612022-01-27
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:82022-02-01
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:1962022-02-03
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:492022-02-07
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHubstars:62022-02-14

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

  1. Metasploit-337 d
  2. Published
  3. First PoC+15 d
  4. CISA KEV+23 d
  5. TodayNov 2, 2026+1756 d
EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)

Official security notices citing this record; remediation advice is on the agency's page.

All national notices →

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
  • A low-privileged account is enough.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-787 · Out-of-bounds Write

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Change log

No changes recorded on tracked fields yet. Score, KEV, exploit maturity and fix status changes appear here.

References

Show all references (3 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records