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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 1 Aug 2023.
Windows 10 1507Operating system · Microsoft

CVE-2023-36874

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-07-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.0.10240.20048 / 10.0.14393.6085 or later.
See remediation →
96/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Public exploit 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 Error Reporting 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 · moderate confidence

This is an Elevation of Privilege vulnerability in the Windows Error Reporting Service. The Windows Error Reporting Service runs with elevated privileges, and this vulnerability allows a low-privileged attacker to gain higher system privileges. CVSS 7.8 indicates the exploit requires low complexity and no elevated privileges to execute.

MitigationApply the relevant Microsoft security updates for CVE-2023-36874 as soon as practical, as this allows local attackers to escalate privileges to SYSTEM level.

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:< 10.0.10240.20048
Windows 10 1607Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.14393.6085
Windows 10 1809Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.17763.4645
Windows 10 21h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.19041.3208
Windows 10 22h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.19045.3208
Windows 11 21h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.22000.2176
Windows 11 22h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.22621.1992
Windows Server 2008Operating system
Affected:all versions= r2

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check Windows version
    Run 'winver' or 'systeminfo' from command prompt and note the build number displayed
    Affected if The build number is lower than the version thresholds listed for your Windows release (e.g., below 10.0.19045.3208 for Windows 10 22h2, below 10.0.22621.1992 for Windows 11 22h2)
  2. Verify WER service status
    Open Services console (services.msc) or run 'sc query WerSvc' in command prompt to check if Windows Error Reporting service is running
    Affected if The WER service is installed and running on the system

You are affected if your Windows version is below the patched build numbers AND the Windows Error Reporting service is currently running on your system.

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 10.0.10240.20048 / 10.0.14393.6085 / 10.0.17763.4645 or later
Fixed in 10.0.10240.2004810.0.14393.608510.0.17763.4645
Vendor patch msrc.microsoft.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply the relevant Microsoft security updates for CVE-2023-36874 as soon as practical, as this allows local attackers to escalate privileges to SYSTEM level.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to the specific fixed build for your Windows version: Windows 10 1507 (10.0.10240.20048), 1607 (10.0.14393.6085), 1809 (10.0.17763.4645), 21h2 (10.0.19041.3208), 22h2 (10.0.19045.3208); Windows 11 21h2 (10.0.22000.2176), 22h2 (10.0.22621.1992); Windows Server 2008/R2 migrate to Windows Serve

  1. Identify current Windows version by running 'winver' in the Run dialog
  2. Compare your current Windows build number against the fixed version for your specific Windows release (e.g., Windows 10 22h2 needs build 10.0.19045.3208 or later)
  3. For Windows 10 1507/1607/1809/21h2/22h2: Apply the relevant Cumulative Security Update from Microsoft Update Catalog or Windows Update that includes the CVE-2023-36874 fix
  4. For Windows 11 21h2: Upgrade to build 10.0.22000.2176 or later via Windows Update
  5. For Windows 11 22h2: Upgrade to build 10.0.22621.1992 or later via Windows Update
  6. For Windows Server 2008/R2: Migrate to a supported Windows Server version (2016, 2019, or 2022) as Windows Server 2008 is end-of-life and receives no security updates
  7. After applying updates, verify the fix by checking the installed Windows build version matches or exceeds the required fixed build number
Caveat Windows Server 2008/R2 has no security updates available (EOL); upgrading to newer Windows versions may require application compatibility testing

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
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.

Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-36874 — 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-2023-36874 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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