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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-2022-26904

HIGH · 7.0 CVSS v3.1 Developing Published 2022-04-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.0.10240.19265 / 10.0.14393.5066 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 · low confidence

This is a Windows User Profile Service elevation of privilege vulnerability. The User Profile Service handles loading and unloading user profiles, and this vulnerability allows a low-privilege attacker to gain elevated privileges on the affected system.

MitigationApply the relevant Microsoft security update for this vulnerability (refer to Microsoft Security Guide for specific KB article). Standard mitigation includes keeping Windows systems patched and up-to-date.

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:< 10.0.10240.19265
Windows 10 1607Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.14393.5066
Windows 10 1809Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.17763.2803
Windows 10 1909Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.18363.2212
Windows 10 20h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.19042.1645
Windows 10 21h1Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.19043.1645
Windows 10 21h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.19044.1645
Windows 11 21h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.22000.613

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 installed Windows version
    Open Command Prompt or PowerShell and run 'winver' or 'systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"' to obtain the exact Windows build number
    Affected if The version is lower than any of the following: Windows 10 1507 (build 10240.19265), Windows 10 1607 (build 14393.5066), Windows 10 1809 (build 17763.2803), Windows 10 1909 (build 18363.2212), Windows 10 20h2 (build 19042.1645), Windows 10 21h1 (build 19043.1645), Windows 10 21h2 (build 19044.1645),
  2. Verify User Profile Service status
    Open Services console (services.msc) or run 'Get-Service -Name ProfSvc' in PowerShell to check if the User Profile Service (ProfSvc) is installed and running
    Affected if The User Profile Service is present and enabled on the system, as this is the vulnerable component
  3. Confirm system is domain-joined or has multiple users
    Check system configuration via 'SystemPropertiesComputerName' or 'whoami /all' to see if the machine is part of a domain or has multiple local user accounts
    Affected if The system has multiple user accounts or is domain-joined, as an authenticated user account is required for the attacker to exploit this vulnerability

Your system is affected if it runs any Windows 10 version or Windows 11 21h2 with a build number lower than the thresholds listed AND has the User Profile Service enabled with authenticated user accounts present.

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 10.0.10240.19265 / 10.0.14393.5066 / 10.0.17763.2803 or later
Fixed in 10.0.10240.1926510.0.14393.506610.0.17763.2803
Vendor patch msrc.microsoft.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply the relevant Microsoft security update for this vulnerability (refer to Microsoft Security Guide for specific KB article). Standard mitigation includes keeping Windows systems patched and up-to-date.

Recommended fix High confidence

Install the appropriate Windows cumulative security update for your version (e.g., March 2022 Security Updates or later)

  1. 1. Identify the current Windows version by opening Settings > System > About, or running 'winver' command
  2. 2. Check if the installed version is below the fixed version for your Windows release
  3. 3. For enterprise-managed environments, use Windows Update for Business, WSUS, or SCCM to deploy the cumulative update
  4. 4. Alternatively, manually download and install the appropriate cumulative update from Microsoft Update Catalog for your specific Windows version
  5. 5. After installation, restart the system to apply the security update
  6. 6. Verify the installed version matches or exceeds the fixed version: Windows 10 1507 should be 10.0.10240.19265+, Windows 10 1607 should be 10.0.14393.5066+, Windows 10 1809 should be 10.0.17763.2803+, Windows 10 1909 should be 10.0.18363.2212+, Windows 10 20H2 should be 10.0.19042.1645+, Windows 10 21H1 should be 10.0.19043.1645+, Windows 10 21H2 should be 10.0.19044.1645+, Windows 11 21H2 shoul
Caveat Standard Windows update - minimal risk; ensure backups and test in staging if possible

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
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,380
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,808.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-26904 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

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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-2022-26904 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