CVE-2022-37969: Windows Common Log File System Driver Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Overview

Severity
High (CVSS 7.8)
CVSS Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C
Category
Elevation of Privilege
Exploit Status
Actively Exploited
Exploitation Likelihood
Detected
Publicly Disclosed
Yes
Patch Tuesday
2022-Sep
Released
2022-09-13
EPSS Score
14.59% (percentile: 94.5%)
CISA KEV
Listed — due 2022-10-05

FAQ

What privileges could be gained by an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability? An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain SYSTEM privileges. According to the CVSS metric, privileges required is low (PR:L). What does that mean for this vulnerability? An attacker must already have access and the ability to run code on the target system. This technique does not allow for remote code execution in cases where the attacker does not already have that ability on the target system.

Known Exploits (4)

  • Microsoft Windows Common Log File System (CLFS) Driver Privilege Escalation Vulnerability — added 2026-02-20T03:34:26Z
  • Microsoft Windows Common Log File System (CLFS) Driver Privilege Escalation Vulnerability — added 2025-11-25T10:36:51Z
  • Microsoft Windows Common Log File System (CLFS) Driver Privilege Escalation Vulnerability — added 2025-07-06T07:28:29Z
  • Microsoft Windows Common Log File System (CLFS) Driver Privilege Escalation Vulnerability — added 2023-03-09T21:17:44Z

Detection & Weaponization (1 sources)

Maturity: Exploit

  • GitHub PoC: 5 repositories

Affected Products (38)

Windows

  • Windows 10 Version 1809 for 32-bit Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 1809 for x64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 1809 for ARM64-based Systems
  • Windows Server 2019
  • Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation)
  • Windows 10 Version 21H1 for x64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 21H1 for ARM64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 21H1 for 32-bit Systems
  • Windows Server 2022
  • Windows Server 2022 (Server Core installation)
  • Windows 10 Version 20H2 for 32-bit Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 20H2 for ARM64-based Systems
  • Windows 11 version 21H2 for x64-based Systems
  • Windows 11 version 21H2 for ARM64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 21H2 for 32-bit Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 21H2 for ARM64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 21H2 for x64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 for 32-bit Systems
  • Windows 10 for x64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 1607 for 32-bit Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based Systems
  • Windows Server 2016
  • Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation)
  • Windows 8.1 for 32-bit systems
  • Windows 8.1 for x64-based systems
  • Windows RT 8.1

ESU

  • Windows 7 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 1
  • Windows 7 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1
  • Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 2
  • Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 2 (Server Core installation)
  • Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 2
  • Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 2 (Server Core installation)
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1 (Server Core installation)
  • Windows Server 2012
  • Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation)
  • Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation)

Security Updates (14)

Acknowledgments

<a href="https://twitter.com/threatlabz">Zscaler ThreatLabz</a> with <a href="https://www.zscaler.com/">Zscaler</a>, <a href="https://www.crowdstrike.com/">CrowdStrike</a>, Genwei Jiang with <a href="https://www.mandiant.com/">Mandiant, FLARE OTF</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/jq0904">Quan Jin</a> with <a href="https://www.dbappsecurity.com.cn/">DBAPPSecurity</a>

Revision History

  • 2022-09-13: Information published.