Visual StudioApplication · Microsoft

CVE-2021-1651

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-01-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 15.9 / 16.4 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

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
Diagnostics Hub Standard Collector 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

This is an Elevation of Privilege (EoP) vulnerability in the Windows Diagnostics Hub Standard Collector service. The vulnerability allows a local attacker to gain higher privileges, likely by exploiting improper privilege management within the diagnostic collector component.

MitigationApply the relevant Windows security update (released January 2021) through Windows Update or deploy the corresponding KB patch to affected systems.

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
Visual StudioApplication
Affected:= 2015
Visual Studio 2017Application
Affected:>= 15.0, < 15.9
Visual Studio 2019Application
Affected:>= 16.0, < 16.4>= 16.5, < 16.7= 16.8
Windows 10Operating system
Affected:= 20h2= 1607= 1803= 1809= 1909= 2004
Windows Server 2016Operating system
Affected:all versions= 20h2= 1909= 2004
Windows Server 2019Operating 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. Check Windows version
    Run 'winver' or 'systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"' to identify the installed Windows version
    Affected if The version matches 20h2, 1607, 1803, 1809, 1909, or 2004 for Windows 10; or 20h2, 1909, or 2004 for Windows Server 2016/2019; or any version of Windows Server 2016/2019
  2. Verify Diagnostics Hub service presence
    Run 'Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.Name -like "*DiagnosticsHub*"}' in PowerShell or check services.msc for 'Diagnostics Hub Standard Collector' service
    Affected if The 'Diagnostics Hub Standard Collector' service exists on the system
  3. Confirm security update installation
    Run 'Get-HotFix | Where-Object {$_.HotFixID -eq "KB4598481"}' in PowerShell to check if the January 2021 security update is installed
    Affected if The KB4598481 update is NOT installed, indicating the system is unpatched
  4. Check alternative update status
    Run 'Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_QuickFixEngineering' and review installed updates for January 2021 security patches
    Affected if No January 2021 security updates related to CVE-2021-1651 are present

A system is affected if it runs a vulnerable Windows version (10 1607, 1803, 1809, 1909, 2004, 20h2 or Server 2016/2019/2022) with the Diagnostics Hub Standard Collector service present and without the KB4598481 security update 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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 15.9 / 16.4 / 16.7 or later
Fixed in 15.916.416.7
Interim mitigation

Apply the relevant Windows security update (released January 2021) through Windows Update or deploy the corresponding KB patch to affected systems.

Fix this in Visual Studio Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-1651 — 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-2021-1651 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