Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 8 Sep 2022.
Windows 10 1809Operating system · Microsoft

CVE-2022-21971

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Developing Published 2022-02-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.0.17763.2565 / 10.0.18363.2094 or later.
See remediation →
97/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS No privileges 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 Runtime 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 · low confidence
Developing — this CVE was published recently and its authoritative NVD entry is still being established, so we're holding a technical summary until the source data settles rather than publish something unreliable. Re-checking after 2026-08-23.

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 1809Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.17763.2565
Windows 10 1909Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.18363.2094
Windows 10 20h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.19042.1526
Windows 10 21h1Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.19043.1526
Windows 10 21h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.19044.1526
Windows 11 21h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.22000.493
Windows Server 2019Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.17763.2565
Windows Server 2022Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.20348.524

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
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 10.0.17763.2565 / 10.0.18363.2094 / 10.0.19042.1526 or later
Fixed in 10.0.17763.256510.0.18363.209410.0.19042.1526
Vendor patch msrc.microsoft.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

Windows 10 1809: Build 17763.2565 | Windows 10 1909: Build 18363.2094 | Windows 10 20H2: Build 19042.1526 | Windows 10 21H1: Build 19043.1526 | Windows 10 21H2: Build 19044.1526 | Windows 11 21H2: Build 22000.493 | Windows Server 2019: Build 17763.2565 | Windows Server 2022: Build 20348.524

  1. Open Windows Settings on the affected system
  2. Navigate to Update & Security > Windows Update
  3. Click 'Check for updates' to download and install the latest security updates
  4. Ensure the system installs the update corresponding to KB5010793 (January 2022) or later
  5. Restart the system when prompted to complete the installation
  6. Verify the installed version matches or exceeds the fixed build number for your Windows version
Caveat Standard Windows update; ensure backups of critical data before applying updates as a precaution

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

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,950. Get it fixed fast

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-21971 — 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-2022-21971 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