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Windows 10Operating system · Microsoft

CVE-2022-21843

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-01-11
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
Windows Internet Key Exchange (IKE) Protocol Extensions Remote Code Execution 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

A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Windows Internet Key Exchange (IKE) Protocol Extensions. Attackers can send specially crafted IKE packets to vulnerable Windows systems to execute arbitrary code without authentication, likely by exploiting memory corruption in the IKE extension processing.

MitigationApply Microsoft security updates for CVE-2022-21843 to all affected Windows systems. If IKE/IPsec is not required, consider disabling the IKE Extension service or blocking UDP ports 500/4500 at the perimeter.

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 10Operating system
Affected:= 20h2= 21h1= 21h2= 1607= 1809= 1909
Windows 11Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 7Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows 8.1Operating system
Affected:all versions
Windows ServerOperating system
Affected:= 20h2= 2022
Windows Server 2008Operating system
Affected:= r2
Windows Server 2012Operating system
Affected:all versions= r2
Windows Server 2016Operating 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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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' from command prompt or 'systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"' to display the installed Windows version and build number.
    Affected if The displayed version matches any of the following: Windows 10 versions 20h2, 21h1, 21h2, 1607, 1809, or 1909; Windows 11 any version; Windows 7 any version; Windows 8.1 any version; Windows Server 20h2 or 2022; Windows Server 2008 R2; Windows Server 2012 or R2; Windows Server 2016 any version.
  2. Verify IKEEXT service status
    Run 'Get-Service IKEEXT' in PowerShell or 'sc query IKEEXT' in command prompt to check if the IKE Extension service is running.
    Affected if The service state shows as 'Running' or 'Started', indicating the IKE Extension is loaded and processing IKE packets.
  3. Check for IKE/IPsec policy configuration
    Run 'netsh ipsec dynamic show all' to display active IPsec policies, or check the registry under 'HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\IKEEXT\Parameters' for configured IKE policies.
    Affected if Active IKE policies are configured or the registry shows non-default IKE parameters, meaning the system is actively using IKE for IPsec negotiations.
  4. Confirm listening UDP ports
    Run 'netstat -an | findstr ":500 "' and 'netstat -an | findstr ":4500 "' to check if UDP ports 500 and 4500 (used for IKE) are listening.
    Affected if Either UDP port 500 or 4500 shows a 'LISTENING' state, confirming the system is accepting IKE handshake packets on the network.

A system is affected if it runs a vulnerable Windows version listed above AND has the IKEEXT service enabled or IKE/IPsec configured, as the vulnerability is triggered by processing incoming IKE packets on UDP ports 500/4500.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply Microsoft security updates for CVE-2022-21843 to all affected Windows systems. If IKE/IPsec is not required, consider disabling the IKE Extension service or blocking UDP ports 500/4500 at the perimeter.

Recommended fix High confidence

January 2022 Security Updates (or later) - apply the appropriate patch for your specific Windows version

  1. Identify the Windows version and build number by running 'winver' or 'systeminfo'
  2. Navigate to the Microsoft Security Response Center (msrc.microsoft.com) and search for CVE-2022-21843
  3. Download and install the January 2022 Security Update corresponding to your Windows version
  4. Restart the affected system to complete the installation
  5. Verify the update installed successfully by checking Windows Update history or running 'Get-Hotfix'
Caveat Standard patching risk: test in non-production environment first; some updates may require restart

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

Fix this in Windows 10 Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2022-21843 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