CVE-2023-36698: Windows Kernel Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability

Overview

Severity
Medium (CVSS 4.4)
CVSS Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L/E:U/RL:O/RC:C
Category
Security Feature Bypass
Exploit Status
Not Exploited
Exploitation Likelihood
Less Likely
Patch Tuesday
2023-Oct
Released
2023-10-10
Last Updated
2023-11-06
EPSS Score
0.08% (percentile: 23.7%)

FAQ

What kind of security feature could be bypassed by successfully exploiting this vulnerability? An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could bypass the Windows Arbitrary Code Guard exploit protection feature. According to the CVSS metric, successful exploitation of this vulnerability could lead to some loss of integrity (I:L) and some loss of availability (A:L). What does that mean for this vulnerability? An attacker can craft a malicious file that would bypass the Arbitrary Code Guard (ACG) exploit protection feature. However, after ACG is bypassed, while the data processed or protected can't be fully trusted, the attacker does not have full control over an exploited component with only this bypass. As a result, confidentiality of information resources managed by Windows is not in itself compromised (C:N), but both system integrity (I:L) and system availability (A:L) might experience limited compromises by this bypass. For more on this feature please see: Arbitrary code guard.

Affected Products (17)

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 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 10 Version 21H2 for 32-bit Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 21H2 for ARM64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 21H2 for x64-based Systems
  • Windows 11 Version 22H2 for ARM64-based Systems
  • Windows 11 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 22H2 for ARM64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 22H2 for 32-bit Systems

Security Updates (5)

Acknowledgments

<a href="https://twitter.com/ezrak1e">ziming zhang</a> with Ant Security Light-Year Lab

Revision History

  • 2023-10-10: Information published.
  • 2023-11-06: Updated one or more CVSS scores for the affected products. This is an informational change only.