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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. Known ransomware use
Windows 10 1607Operating system · Microsoft

CVE-2019-1315

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-10-10
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 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 Error Reporting manager improperly handles hard links, aka 'Windows Error Reporting Manager Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'. This CVE ID is unique from CVE-2019-1339, CVE-2019-1342.

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

A local elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in Windows Error Reporting Manager due to improper handling of hard links. An authenticated attacker could exploit this by creating malicious hard links to manipulate file system operations and gain elevated privileges on the affected system.

MitigationApply the Microsoft security update for CVE-2019-1315 to address the hard link handling vulnerability in Windows Error Reporting Manager.

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 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 10 1903Operating 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 | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"' to determine the installed Windows version and build number
    Affected if The version is Windows 10 1607, 1703, 1709, 1803, 1809, 1903, Windows 7, or Windows 8.1 (any build)
  2. Verify security update is installed
    Open Control Panel > Programs and Features > View installed updates, or run 'wmic qfe list' to list installed hotfixes. Look for KB4512574 (Windows 7/8.1) or equivalent KB for Windows 10 versions
    Affected if The specific security update for CVE-2019-1315 is NOT installed on the system
  3. Confirm Windows Error Reporting service exists
    Open Services (services.msc) and locate 'Windows Error Reporting Service' or run 'sc query werSvc' to check service status
    Affected if The Windows Error Reporting Manager service is present and running (the vulnerability exists in this component)
  4. Check for unauthorized hard links in WER directories
    Use 'fsutil hardlink list' on directories such as %LOCALAPPDATA%\CrashDumps, %PROGRAMDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\WER, and %SYSTEMROOT%\WER to enumerate hard links
    Affected if Unexpected or suspicious hard links are found pointing to privileged system locations

The system is affected if it runs any Windows 7, 8.1, or Windows 10 version from 1607 to 1903 AND the CVE-2019-1315 security update is not installed.

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 Microsoft security update for CVE-2019-1315 to address the hard link handling vulnerability in Windows Error Reporting Manager.

Recommended fix High confidence

For Windows 7/8.1 end-of-life systems: upgrade to Windows 10 20H2 or later, or Windows 11

  1. Open Windows Update settings (Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update)
  2. Click 'Check for updates' to install the latest security updates
  3. Alternatively, manually download and install the specific security update for this CVE from the Microsoft Security Update Guide
  4. For Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 which reached end of support, upgrade to a supported Windows version (Windows 10 20H2+ or Windows 11)
  5. Restart the computer after installing updates
  6. Verify the update was installed by checking Windows Update history
Caveat Windows 7 and 8.1 are end-of-life; upgrading requires migration planning and potential hardware assessment

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

Fix this in Windows 10 1607 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

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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-2019-1315 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