Windows 10 21h2Operating system · Microsoft

CVE-2023-38148

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-09-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.0.19044.3448 / 10.0.19045.3448 or later.
See remediation →
93/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
No privileges 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
Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) Remote Code Execution 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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-121

Data overflows a fixed-size buffer allocated on the stack, overwriting adjacent stack memory — including saved return addresses — which is the classic route to redirecting execution into attacker-supplied code. Crafted input is all it takes. Remediation is strict length checks, safe bounded string and memory functions, and modern stack-protection mitigations.

General guidance for the stack-based buffer overflow class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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 21h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.19044.3448
Windows 10 22h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.19045.3448
Windows 11 21h2Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.22000.2416
Windows Server 2022Operating system
Affected:< 10.0.20348.1960

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
Adjacent
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 10.0.19044.3448 / 10.0.19045.3448 / 10.0.20348.1960 or later
Fixed in 10.0.19044.344810.0.19045.344810.0.20348.1960
Vendor patch msrc.microsoft.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

Windows 10 21h2 to build 19044.3448 or later | Windows 10 22h2 to build 19045.3448 or later | Windows 11 21h2 to build 22000.2416 or later | Windows Server 2022 to build 20348.1960 or later

  1. Open Settings > Windows Update and check for updates
  2. Install all cumulative updates and security updates available
  3. Restart the computer when prompted to complete the installation
  4. Verify the patch was applied by checking Windows version: run 'winver' and confirm the build number matches or exceeds 10.0.19044.3448 (Win10 21h2), 10.0.19045.3448 (Win10 22h2), 10.0.22000.2416 (Win11 21h2), or 10.0.20348.1960 (Server 2022)
  5. Alternatively, use PowerShell command 'Get-HotFix' to confirm KB5028948 or subsequent relevant update is installed
Caveat Standard Windows update risks - ensure critical data is backed up before applying updates

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,950. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-38148 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-38148 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