CVE-2022-23293
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 Fast FAT File System Driver 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 · high confidenceCVE-2022-23293 is an elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Windows Fast FAT File System Driver (fastfat.sys). The vulnerability allows a local authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code in kernel mode, potentially gaining SYSTEM-level privileges. It stems from improper input validation in the FAT file system driver when handling specially crafted filesystem operations.
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 versions= 20h2= 21h1= 21h2= 1607= 1809= 1909all versionsall versionsall versionsall versions= 20h2= 2022all 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
- 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 version is affectedRun 'winver' or 'systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"' to identify the Windows version. Check if it matches Windows 10 (all versions; 20h2, 21h1, 21h2, 1607, 1809, 1909), Windows 11 (all versions), Windows 7 (all versions), Windows 8.1 (all versions), Windows Rt 8.1, Windows Server 20h2/2022, Windows Server 2008 (all versions/r2), or Windows Server 2012 (all versions/r2).Affected if The installed Windows version matches any of the affected versions listed in the CVE.
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Identify mounted FAT volumesOpen Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) or run 'fsutil fsinfo volumeinfo <drive-letter>:' for each drive to check the filesystem type. FAT volumes will show as FAT12, FAT16, or FAT32.Affected if The system has any FAT-formatted volumes (FAT12, FAT16, or FAT32) mounted or accessible.
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Check fastfat.sys driver versionNavigate to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\fastfat.sys, right-click and view Properties, or run 'powershell (Get-Item C:\Windows\System32\drivers\fastfat.sys).VersionInfo' to retrieve the file version.Affected if The fastfat.sys version is older than the patched version for CVE-2022-23293.
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Verify security update is installedRun 'powershell Get-HotFix | Where-Object {$_.Description -eq "Security Update"} | Select-Object HotFixID, InstalledOn' to list installed security updates. Look for KB5011570 or subsequent security updates addressing this CVE.Affected if The security update for CVE-2022-23293 (KB5011570 or later) is NOT installed.
A system is affected if it runs an affected Windows version, has accessible FAT volumes, and is missing the CVE-2022-23293 security update.
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 the Microsoft security update for CVE-2022-23293 via Windows Update or enterprise patch management systems. Prioritize patching domain controllers and systems with high privilege access given the EoP nature of this vulnerability.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,752.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-23293 — 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-2022-23293 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