CVE-2019-0938 — Microsoft Edge Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Executive Summary

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in Microsoft Edge that could allow an attacker to escape from the AppContainer sandbox in the browser. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain elevated privileges and break out of the Edge AppContainer sandbox. The vulnerability by itself does not allow arbitrary code to run. However, this vulnerability could be used in conjunction with one or more vulnerabilities (for example a remote code execution vulnerability and another elevation of privilege vulnerability) to take advantage of the elevated privileges when running. The security update addresses the vulnerability by modifying how Microsoft Edge handles sandboxing.

Overview

9

CVSS CRITICAL

Important

MS Severity

Not Exploited

MS Exploit Status

More Likely

MS Exploit Likelihood

Category Elevation of Privilege

Released May 14 2019

Last Updated May 14 2019

Publicly Disclosed No

CISA KEV Not Listed

Known Exploits None Known

EPSS Score 0.03442 — 0.87745 percentile

NVD CVSS 9 CRITICAL — differs from MSRC

CVSS Vector

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C

ATTACK VECTOR

Network

ATTACK COMPLEXITY

High

PRIVILEGES REQUIRED

None

USER INTERACTION

None

SCOPE

Changed

CONFIDENTIALITY

Low

INTEGRITY

Low

AVAILABILITY

None

EXPLOIT CODE MATURITY

Proof-of-Concept

REMEDIATION LEVEL

Official Fix

REPORT CONFIDENCE

Confirmed

Temporal Score: 3.8

EPSS Score

0.03442

probability of exploitation in the next 30 days

0.87745 percentile - updated 2026-07-25

View on FIRST.org

Affected Products

20 affected products

Product	KB Article	Severity	Impact	Restart Required
Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based) on Windows 10 for 32-bit Systems	`4499154 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based) on Windows 10 for x64-based Systems	`4499154 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based) on Windows 10 Version 1607 for 32-bit Systems	`4494440 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based) on Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based Systems	`4494440 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based) on Windows 10 Version 1703 for 32-bit Systems	`4499181 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based) on Windows 10 Version 1703 for x64-based Systems	`4499181 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based) on Windows 10 Version 1709 for 32-bit Systems	`4499179 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based) on Windows 10 Version 1709 for ARM64-based Systems	`4499179 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based) on Windows 10 Version 1709 for x64-based Systems	`4499179 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based) on Windows 10 Version 1803 for 32-bit Systems	`4499167 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based) on Windows 10 Version 1803 for ARM64-based Systems	`4499167 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based) on Windows 10 Version 1803 for x64-based Systems	`4499167 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based) on Windows 10 Version 1809 for 32-bit Systems	`4494441 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based) on Windows 10 Version 1809 for ARM64-based Systems	`4494441 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based) on Windows 10 Version 1809 for x64-based Systems	`4494441 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based) on Windows 10 Version 1903 for 32-bit Systems	`4497936 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based) on Windows 10 Version 1903 for ARM64-based Systems	`4497936 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based) on Windows 10 Version 1903 for x64-based Systems	`4497936 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based) on Windows Server 2016	`4494440 (Security Update)`	Low	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Microsoft Edge (EdgeHTML-based) on Windows Server 2019	`4494441 (Security Update)`	Low	Elevation of Privilege	Yes

Patches

7 patches

Article	Type	Restart
`4499154`	Security Update	Yes
`4494440`	Security Update	Yes
`4499181`	Security Update	Yes
`4499179`	Security Update	Yes
`4499167`	Security Update	Yes
`4494441`	Security Update	Yes
`4497936`	Security Update	Yes

Known Exploits

No known exploits have been linked for this CVE yet. When available, exploit references will be sourced from public repositories and may be unverified, incomplete, or non-functional. Always review code carefully before use in any environment.

Acknowledgments

Arthur Gerkis of Exodus Intelligence (@ax330d) working with Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative

References

MSRC Advisory MITRE NVD