CVE-2022-21899
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 · uneditedWindows Extensible Firmware Interface Security Feature Bypass 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 confidenceThis is a Windows UEFI/EFI security feature bypass vulnerability. The vulnerability allows an attacker to circumvent security mechanisms in the Windows Extensible Firmware Interface, likely involving Secure Boot or similar platform security controls. The medium CVSS score (5.5) suggests the bypass requires specific conditions but provides meaningful security compromise.
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 dataall versionsall versionsall versionsall versions= r2all versions= r2CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check Windows versionRun 'winver' or 'systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"' to identify the installed Windows version and build numberAffected if The version matches any of the affected products: Windows 10 (all versions), Windows 7 (all versions), Windows 8.1 (all versions), Windows Rt 8.1 (all versions), Windows Server 2012 (all versions), Windows Server 2012 R2, or Windows Server 2008 R2
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Verify Secure Boot statusRun 'Confirm-SecureBootUEFI' in PowerShell (requires admin). Alternatively, access UEFI/BIOS settings during boot to confirm Secure Boot is enabledAffected if Secure Boot is enabled, as the vulnerability allows bypassing Secure Boot security mechanisms in UEFI/EFI
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Check UEFI firmware versionRun 'Get-WmiObject win32_bios' in PowerShell to retrieve BIOS/UEFI version information, or check the manufacturer's UEFI update utilityAffected if The UEFI firmware version is outdated and has not been updated to include the security fix for this vulnerability
You are affected if you run any of the affected Windows versions (Windows 7, 8.1, 10, Rt 8.1, Server 2008 R2, Server 2012/2012 R2) and have Secure Boot enabled, as the vulnerability bypasses this protection mechanism.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataApply Microsoft security updates for Windows when available. Ensure Secure Boot is properly configured and enabled in UEFI firmware. Verify that UEFI firmware is updated to the latest manufacturer version.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,304.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-21899 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-21899 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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