Junglewise Threat Intelligence

CVE-2021-40450: Microsoft Win32k Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

CVE-2021-40450 · Severity: critical · CVSS 7.8 · Exploited in the wild · Published 2022-04-25

Technologies: Microsoft Windows 11, Microsoft Windows 10, Microsoft Win32K, Microsoft Windows Server. Vendors: Microsoft.

Executive brief

Microsoft Win32k contains an elevation of privilege vulnerability that allows a local attacker to gain system-level privileges. The flaw is caused by insufficient restrictions within the Win32k kernel-mode driver. This vulnerability has been observed being exploited in the wild.

Affected products

  • Microsoft Windows 10 1809, 1909, 2004, 20H2, 21H1
  • Microsoft Windows 11 21H2
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2004, 20H2, 2019, 2022

Timeline

  • 2021-10-19: disclosed: Initial analysis by NIST and Microsoft advisory release
  • 2022-04-25: kev added: Added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog

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