CVE-2022-26794
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 Print Spooler 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 confidenceThis is an elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Windows Print Spooler service. The Print Spooler runs with elevated system privileges, and this vulnerability allows a local attacker to gain higher-level permissions on the affected 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 versions= 20h2= 21h1= 21h2= 1607= 1809= 1909all versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versions= r2all versions= r2all versions= 20h2CVSS 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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Verify Print Spooler service statusOpen Services (services.msc) and locate the Print Spooler service, or run 'Get-Service Spooler' in PowerShellAffected if The Print Spooler service is running (vulnerability only applies when the service is active)
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Confirm Windows versionRun 'winver' or 'systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"' to identify your Windows versionAffected if The version matches any listed in the affected products: Windows 10 (all versions, 1607, 1809, 1909, 20h2, 21h1, 21h2), Windows 11 (all versions), Windows 7 (all versions), Windows 8.1 (all versions), Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2008/2012/2016 (all versions or specific builds)
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Check if CVE-2022-26794 patch is installedOpen Settings > Windows Update > Update history, or run 'Get-HotFix | Where-Object {$_.HotFixID -eq "KB5011352"}' in PowerShell (note: verify the correct KB number for your Windows version from Microsoft security bulletins)Affected if The specific security update for this CVE is NOT installed - compare against Microsoft security bulletin KB numbers for May 2022
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Verify service running with elevated privilegesRun 'Get-Service Spooler | Select-Object Name, Status, StartType' in PowerShell to confirm the service is configured to runAffected if The Print Spooler service is set to start automatically or is currently running
Your system is affected if it runs a supported Windows version listed above AND the Print Spooler service is enabled AND the May 2022 security update (KB5011352 or version-specific equivalent) is not installed.
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 dataIf the Print Spooler service is not required, disable it. Otherwise, apply Microsoft security updates promptly and restrict Print Spooler access to trusted users and systems only.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 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 $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-26794 — 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-2022-26794 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