CVE-2022-37992
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 Group Policy 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 confidenceA local privilege escalation vulnerability in Windows Group Policy allows an authenticated attacker to gain elevated (SYSTEM) privileges on affected Windows systems by exploiting improper handling of Group Policy 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= 22h2= 1607= 1809all versions= 22h2all versionsall versionsall versionsall versions= r2all versions= r2all 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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Identify Windows versionRun 'winver' or 'systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name" /C:"OS Version"' to determine the installed Windows version and build numberAffected if The version matches Windows 10 (1607, 1809, 20h2, 21h1, 21h2, 22h2), Windows 11 22h2, Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows Rt 8.1, Windows Server 2008/2008 R2, Windows Server 2012/2012 R2, or Windows Server 2016 and the patch is not applied
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Check for security update KB5017262Run 'wmic qfe get hotfixid | findstr "KB5017262"' or open Control Panel > Programs > View installed updates and search for KB5017262Affected if The update KB5017262 is NOT listed among installed hotfixes, indicating the September 2022 cumulative update has not been applied
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Verify Group Policy Client service statusRun 'sc query gpsvc' to check if the Group Policy Client service (gpsvc) is runningAffected if The service exists and is running, which is required for the vulnerable code path to be active
The system is affected if it runs a vulnerable Windows version (10, 11 22h2, 7, 8.1, Rt 8.1, Server 2008/2012/2016) AND the KB5017262 security update is not installed AND the Group Policy Client service is enabled.
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 · scopedDeploy the Microsoft security update (KB5017262 - September 2022 cumulative update) or later to all affected Windows systems via Windows Update or enterprise patch management infrastructure.
- Navigate to the Microsoft Security Update Guide at msrc.microsoft.com and search for CVE-2022-37992
- Identify the applicable security update (KB number) for your specific Windows version and build
- Apply the security update via Windows Update, or manually download and install the update from the Microsoft Update Catalog
- Restart the system as required to complete the patch installation
- Verify the update is installed by checking installed updates or using the Get-HotFix PowerShell command
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 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 $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-37992 — 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-2022-37992 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