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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 28 Apr 2023. Known ransomware use
Windows 10 1507Operating system · Microsoft

CVE-2019-1388

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-11-12
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 in the Windows Certificate Dialog when it does not properly enforce user privileges, aka 'Windows Certificate Dialog 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 · high confidence

CVE-2019-1388 is an elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Windows Certificate Dialog that fails to properly enforce user privileges. This allows a low-privileged user to potentially perform actions that should require higher permissions through the certificate dialog interface.

MitigationApply the Microsoft security update (KB4524570 for Windows 10 / corresponding patch for other Windows versions) to fix the improper privilege enforcement in the Windows Certificate Dialog component.

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 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 the Windows version
    Run 'winver' from the command prompt or check the System Properties. Alternatively, run 'systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"' to get the exact version string.
    Affected if The version matches Windows 10 1507, 1607, 1709, 1803, 1809, 1903, Windows 7 (any version), or Windows 8.1 (any version).
  2. Check if the security update is installed
    Run 'wmic qfe list' or 'Get-HotFix' in PowerShell to list installed updates. Search for KB4524570 (Windows 10) or the corresponding update for your Windows version.
    Affected if The specific security update for this CVE is NOT listed among installed updates.
  3. Verify the Certificate Dialog component version
    Inspect the file version of cryptui.dll (the Windows Certificate Dialog component) located in System32. Right-click the file, go to Details, or run 'wmic datafile where name="C:\\Windows\\System32\\cryptui.dll" get Version'.
    Affected if The file version is older than the patched version for your Windows build, indicating the privilege enforcement fix has not been applied.

You are affected if your system runs any version of Windows 10 1507-1903, Windows 7, or Windows 8.1 AND the CVE-specific 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 (KB4524570 for Windows 10 / corresponding patch for other Windows versions) to fix the improper privilege enforcement in the Windows Certificate Dialog component.

Recommended fix High confidence

For Windows 7/8.1 end-of-life systems, upgrade to Windows 10 21H2 or later, or Windows 11

  1. Apply the Microsoft November 2019 Security Updates (KB4525235 or subsequent updates) to address CVE-2019-1388
  2. For Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2: Install KB4525235 from the Microsoft Update Catalog
  3. For Windows 8.1: Install KB4525236 from the Microsoft Update Catalog
  4. For Windows 10 versions 1507, 1607, 1709, 1803, 1809, 1903: Install the appropriate November 2019 security update for your specific version
  5. Verify the update was successfully installed by checking Windows Update history or using the Get-Hotfix PowerShell cmdlet
  6. Restart the system if prompted to complete the update installation
  7. Note: Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 are end-of-life; consider upgrading to a supported Windows version for continued security support
Caveat Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 are no longer supported by Microsoft; no further security updates are available for these systems

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
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.

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-2019-1388 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