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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.
Windows 7Operating system · Microsoft

CVE-2019-1132

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-07-15
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 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 in Windows when the Win32k component fails to properly handle objects in memory, aka 'Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'.

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

CVE-2019-1132 is a local elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Windows Win32k (kernel-mode graphics) subsystem. The vulnerability stems from improper handling of objects in memory, allowing a local attacker to execute code with elevated privileges. This was actively exploited in the wild as part of an attack chain.

MitigationApply the relevant Microsoft security update (KB4507459 or subsequent cumulative updates) to all affected Windows systems. Prioritize domain controllers and systems with exposed attack surfaces.

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 7Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows Server 2008Operating system
Affected:all versions= r2

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 'systeminfo' or 'winver' from command prompt to determine the installed Windows version
    Affected if Version shows Windows 7 (any edition) or Windows Server 2008/R2 (any edition)
  2. Check for June 2019 security updates
    Run 'wmic qfe list' or 'Get-HotFix | Where-Object {$_.InstalledOn -ge "06/01/2019" -and $_.InstalledOn -le "06/30/2019"}' to list updates installed in June 2019
    Affected if No security updates from June 2019 are installed on Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008/R2 systems
  3. Verify Win32k.sys patch status
    Run 'wmic qfe get HotFixID,Description | findstr /i "4503295 4503293"' (June 2019 CVE-2019-1132 related patches)
    Affected if The KB4503295 (Windows 7) or KB4503293 (Server 2008) patches are NOT listed as installed
  4. Check kernel version as alternative
    Check the file version of %SystemRoot%\System32\win32k.sys by right-clicking the file, selecting Properties, and viewing the Details tab
    Affected if Running Windows 7 or Server 2008/R2 with win32k.sys version prior to the June 2019 security update baseline

A user is affected if they are running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008/R2 without the June 2019 security updates installed, as the vulnerability exists in unpatched win32k.sys memory handling.

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
Vendor patch portal.msrc.microsoft.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply the relevant Microsoft security update (KB4507459 or subsequent cumulative updates) to all affected Windows systems. Prioritize domain controllers and systems with exposed attack surfaces.

Recommended fix High confidence

Windows 10 (any supported channel: LTSC, or current branch) or Windows Server 2019/2022

  1. Since Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 have reached end of support, the recommended remediation is to upgrade to a currently supported Windows version
  2. For Windows 7 systems: upgrade to Windows 10 (ensure compatibility with hardware requirements, then perform a fresh install or in-place upgrade)
  3. For Windows Server 2008 R2 systems: migrate to Windows Server 2019 or Windows Server 2022
  4. After upgrading, verify that the system is running a supported version and apply all current security updates
  5. Alternatively, if immediate upgrade is not feasible, apply the July 2019 security updates (KB4507456 for Windows 7, KB4507465 for Windows Server 2008 R2) if still available through your organization's patch management
Caveat Upgrading from Windows 7 may require hardware assessment (TPM 2.0, secure boot requirements for Windows 10); legacy applications may require compatibility testing; Windows Server 2008 R2 applications may need reconfiguration or migration to newer OS

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

Fix this in Windows 7 Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,120
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,392.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2019-1132 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