CVE-2024-38163: Windows Update Stack 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
2024-Aug
Released
2024-08-13
Last Updated
2024-10-03
EPSS Score
0.81% (percentile: 74.2%)

FAQ

How do I protect myself from this vulnerability? The vulnerability pertains to a previous installer version which has been superseded by the new WinRE installer. Since the vulnerability is only exploitable at the install time, users need to take no action to be protected from this vulnerability. See the linked Article in the Security Updates table about the update for your particular Windows version. What privileges could be gained by an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability? An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain SYSTEM privileges. How do I know if I need to install the update to be protected from this vulnerability? You do not need to install the standalone updates listed in the Security Updates table if either of the following applies: You have installed the January 9, 2024 or newer SafeOS Dynamic Update for your operating system, available on the Microsoft Update Catalog. If the WinRE image on your machine has a version greater than or equal to the following, based on the installed operating system. To determine the version of your WinRE image, check the WinREVersion registry value at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion: Windows 11, version 21H2: WinRE Version must be >= 10.0.22000.2710 Windows Server 2022: WinRE Version must be >= 10.0.20348.2201 Windows 10, version 21H2 and Windows 10, version 22H2: WinRE Version must be >= 10.0.19041.3920 Note that the update will not be offered if your machine does not have enough free space on your WinRE Recovery Partition, or if you do not have WinRE enabled.

Affected Products (6)

Windows

  • Windows Server 2022
  • Windows 11 version 21H2 for x64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 21H2 for 32-bit Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 21H2 for x64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems
  • Windows 10 Version 22H2 for 32-bit Systems

Security Updates (3)

Acknowledgments

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilan-kotler-pt/">Ilan Kotler</a>, <a href="https://medium.com/@spoppi">Sandro Poppi</a>, Nicholas Zubrisky (@NZubrisky) of Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative

Revision History

  • 2024-08-13: Information published.
  • 2024-10-03: Corrected Build Numbers in the Security Updates table. This is an informational change only.