CVE-2023-21768: Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock 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
Not Exploited
Exploitation Likelihood
More Likely
Patch Tuesday
2023-Jan
Released
2023-01-10
EPSS Score
75.52% (percentile: 98.9%)

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.

Known Exploits (11)

  • Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Privilege Escalation — added 2025-08-25T13:35:25Z
  • Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Privilege Escalation — added 2024-12-30T17:27:56Z
  • Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Privilege Escalation — added 2024-08-25T16:34:17Z
  • Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Privilege Escalation — added 2024-05-15T17:42:10Z
  • Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Privilege Escalation — added 2024-04-07T02:26:36Z
  • Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Privilege Escalation — added 2023-10-02T11:36:49Z
  • Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Privilege Escalation — added 2023-04-20T08:26:42Z
  • Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Privilege Escalation — added 2023-04-05T02:05:17Z
  • Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Privilege Escalation — added 2023-03-21T01:58:40Z
  • Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Privilege Escalation — added 2023-03-10T19:08:28Z
  • Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Privilege Escalation — added 2023-03-07T23:00:27Z

Detection & Weaponization (2 sources)

Maturity: Exploit

  • Metasploit modules: Ancillary Function Driver (AFD) for WinSock Elevation of Privilege
  • GitHub PoC: 14 repositories

Affected Products (6)

Windows

  • Windows Server 2022
  • Windows Server 2022 (Server Core installation)
  • Windows 11 version 21H2 for x64-based Systems
  • Windows 11 version 21H2 for ARM64-based Systems
  • Windows 11 Version 22H2 for ARM64-based Systems
  • Windows 11 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems

Security Updates (3)

Revision History

  • 2023-01-10: Information published.