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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 16 May 2022.
Windows 10 1507Operating system · Microsoft

CVE-2022-21919

HIGH · 7.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-01-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.0.10240.19177 / 10.0.14393.4886 or later.
See remediation →
96/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild 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
Windows User Profile Service 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

A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the Windows User Profile Service that allows an authenticated attacker to gain elevated SYSTEM-level privileges by exploiting improper handling of user profile operations. The vulnerability leverages race conditions or improper validation in the profile loading/unloading mechanism.

MitigationApply the Microsoft security update KB5009557 (or subsequent superseded patch) to all affected Windows systems. Prioritize domain controllers and systems with privileged user access.

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:< 10.0.10240.19177
Windows 10 1607Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.14393.4886
Windows 10 1809Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.17763.2452
Windows 10 1909Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.18363.2037
Windows 10 20h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.19042.1466
Windows 10 21h1Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.19043.1466
Windows 10 21h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.19044.1466
Windows 11 21h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.22000.434

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
High
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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 against affected ranges
    Run 'winver' or 'systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"' and compare the build number to the affected version thresholds (10240.19177, 14393.4886, 17763.2452, 18363.2037, 19042.1466, 19043.1466, 19044.1466, 22000.434). For winver, look at the Build number shown.
    Affected if The installed Windows build number is lower than the corresponding threshold for your Windows version and feature update.
  2. Verify User Profile Service is present
    Open Services console (services.msc) and locate 'User Profile Service' or run 'sc query ProfSvc' from an elevated command prompt.
    Affected if The User Profile Service (ProfSvc) is installed and available on the system, which is the default state for all affected Windows versions.
  3. Confirm security update is not installed
    Run 'wmic qfe list' or check Windows Update history for security update KB5001402 (or subsequent updates). Alternatively, check the System event log for recent security updates applied around February 2022 or later.
    Affected if KB5001402 or a subsequent security update addressing CVE-2022-21919 is not listed among installed updates.

The system is affected if it runs an unpatched Windows version within the affected build ranges AND the User Profile Service is enabled, allowing a low-privileged authenticated user to potentially elevate to SYSTEM privileges.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to 10.0.10240.19177 / 10.0.14393.4886 / 10.0.17763.2452 or later
Fixed in 10.0.10240.1917710.0.14393.488610.0.17763.2452
Vendor patch msrc.microsoft.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply the Microsoft security update KB5009557 (or subsequent superseded patch) to all affected Windows systems. Prioritize domain controllers and systems with privileged user access.

Recommended fix High confidence

Minimum fixed versions: Windows 10 1507: 10.0.10240.19177 | Windows 10 1607: 10.0.14393.4886 | Windows 10 1809: 10.0.17763.2452 | Windows 10 1909: 10.0.18363.2037 | Windows 10 20h2: 10.0.19042.1466 | Windows 10 21h1: 10.0.19043.1466 | Windows 10 21h2: 10.0.19044.1466 | Windows 11 21h2: 10.0.22000.43

  1. Open Windows Settings and navigate to Update & Security > Windows Update
  2. Click 'Check for updates' to download and install the latest cumulative security updates from Microsoft
  3. After the update installs, restart the computer when prompted to complete the patch installation
  4. Verify the update was installed by checking Windows Update history for the security update containing CVE-2022-21919

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 / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-21919 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2022-21919 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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