Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 5 Apr 2022. Known ransomware use
Windows 10 1507Operating system · Microsoft

CVE-2019-0543

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-01-08
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
96/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Ransomware Public exploit Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when Windows improperly handles authentication requests, aka "Microsoft Windows Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability." This affects Windows 7, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2012, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 10, Windows 10 Servers.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

This is an elevation of privilege vulnerability in Microsoft Windows where the operating system improperly handles authentication requests, potentially allowing an authenticated attacker to gain elevated privileges on the affected system.

MitigationApply the Microsoft security update (KB4483229) or later cumulative security update for the affected Windows version to address this vulnerability.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Windows 10 1507Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 10 1607Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 10 1703Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 10 1709Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 10 1803Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 10 1809Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 7Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 8.1Operating system
Affected:all versions

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Windows version
    Run 'winver' or 'systeminfo' to determine the exact Windows version and build number
    Affected if The version matches Windows 10 1507, 1607, 1703, 1709, 1803, 1809, Windows 7, or Windows 8.1
  2. Verify security update KB4483229 is installed
    Run 'wmic qfe list full' or 'Get-HotFix | Select-Object HotFixID' in PowerShell to list all installed updates
    Affected if KB4483229 is NOT present in the list of installed hotfixes

If the system runs any of the affected Windows versions and KB4483229 is not installed, the system is vulnerable to this elevation of privilege vulnerability.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Interim mitigation

Apply the Microsoft security update (KB4483229) or later cumulative security update for the affected Windows version to address this vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Windows 10 1809 or later, or migrate to Windows 11; Windows 7 and Windows 10 1507 users must upgrade to a supported OS version as these releases are end-of-life

  1. Verify current Windows version by running 'winver' in the Run dialog
  2. For Windows 10 1809 systems: Install KB4480960 from Windows Update or the Microsoft Update Catalog
  3. For Windows 10 1803 systems: Install KB4480966 from Windows Update or the Microsoft Update Catalog
  4. For Windows 10 1709 systems: Install KB4480978 from Windows Update or the Microsoft Update Catalog
  5. For Windows 10 1607 systems: Install KB4480961 from Windows Update or the Microsoft Update Catalog
  6. For Windows 10 1507 systems: Install KB4480960 from Windows Update or the Microsoft Update Catalog
  7. For Windows 8.1 systems: Install KB4480965 from Windows Update or the Microsoft Update Catalog
  8. For Windows 7 systems: Install KB4480960 from Windows Update or the Microsoft Update Catalog
Caveat Windows 7 and early Windows 10 versions (1507, 1607, 1703, 1709, 1803) are end-of-support and require full OS upgrade rather than patching; hardware compatibility should be verified before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Windows 10 1507 Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-0543 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-0543 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data