CVE-2022-21996
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 · uneditedWin32k 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 confidenceCVE-2022-21996 is an elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Windows Win32k kernel-mode graphics subsystem (win32k.sys). A local authenticated attacker could exploit this to gain elevated SYSTEM privileges on the affected Windows system.
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 versionsCVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm Windows 11 is installedRun 'winver' from command prompt or check System Properties to verify the operating system is Windows 11Affected if The system is running any version of Windows 11
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Identify win32k.sys versionOpen File Explorer, navigate to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\win32k.sys, right-click and select Properties, then view the File Version detailsAffected if The win32k.sys version is lower than the patched version released with KB5011543 (compare against Microsoft's version documentation)
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Verify KB5011543 is installedOpen Settings > Windows Update > Update history, or run 'wmic qfe list' from command prompt, and search for security update KB5011543Affected if KB5011543 is NOT listed in installed updates
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Check for pending system updatesOpen Settings > Windows Update and select 'Check for updates' to ensure no updates are pendingAffected if There are pending security updates that include CVE-2022-21996 patches
A user is affected if they are running Windows 11 without the KB5011543 security update installed, or with a win32k.sys version prior to the patched version.
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.
dbcve · scopedApply the Microsoft security update KB5011543 (or subsequent superseding patch) for CVE-2022-21996 via Windows Update or enterprise patch management tools.
Windows 11 with January 2022 Security Update (KB5009566) or later
- Open Windows Settings by pressing Win+I
- Navigate to Windows Update
- Click 'Check for updates' to install the latest security updates
- Alternatively, manually install the relevant security patch from Microsoft Update Catalog - search for the January 2022 security update (KB5009566) for Windows 11
- Restart the system after updates are installed
- Verify the vulnerability is resolved by confirming the updates were successfully installed
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-21996 — 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-2022-21996 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