CVE-2019-1458 — Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Executive Summary

An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in Windows when the Win32k component fails to properly handle objects in memory. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code in kernel mode. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would first have to log on to the system. An attacker could then run a specially crafted application that could exploit the vulnerability and take control of an affected system. The update addresses this vulnerability by correcting how Win32k handles objects in memory.

Overview

7.8

CVSS HIGH

Important

MS Severity

Exploited

MS Exploit Status

N/A

MS Exploit Likelihood

Category Elevation of Privilege

Released Dec 10 2019

Last Updated Dec 10 2019

Publicly Disclosed No

CISA KEV Listed (added 2022-01-10)

Known Exploits None Known

EPSS Score 0.73856 — 0.99433 percentile

NVD CVSS 7.8 HIGH — matches MSRC

CVSS Vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C

ATTACK VECTOR

Local

ATTACK COMPLEXITY

Low

PRIVILEGES REQUIRED

Low

USER INTERACTION

None

SCOPE

Unchanged

CONFIDENTIALITY

High

INTEGRITY

High

AVAILABILITY

High

EXPLOIT CODE MATURITY

Functional

REMEDIATION LEVEL

Official Fix

REPORT CONFIDENCE

Confirmed

Temporal Score: 7.2

EPSS Score

0.73856

probability of exploitation in the next 30 days

0.99433 percentile - updated 2026-08-14

View on FIRST.org

Affected Products

7 affected products

Product	KB Article	Severity	Impact	Restart Required
Windows 10 for 32-bit Systems	`4530681 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 for x64-based Systems	`4530681 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1607 for 32-bit Systems	`4530689 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based Systems	`4530689 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows 7 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 1 4530734 (Monthly Rollup) 4530692 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4525235 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.2 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C Yes None Windows 7 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1 4530734 (Monthly Rollup) 4530692 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4525235 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.2 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C Yes None Windows 8.1 for 32-bit systems 4530702 (Monthly Rollup) 4530730 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4525243 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.2 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C Yes None Windows 8.1 for x64-based systems 4530702 (Monthly Rollup) 4530730 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4525243 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.2 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C Yes None Windows RT 8.1	`4530702 (Monthly Rollup)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 2 4530695 (Monthly Rollup) 4530719 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4525234 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.2 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C Yes None Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 2 (Server Core installation) 4530695 (Monthly Rollup) 4530719 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4525234 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.2 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C Yes None Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems Service Pack 2 4530695 (Monthly Rollup) 4530719 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4525234 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.2 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C Yes None Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 2 4530695 (Monthly Rollup) 4530719 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4525234 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.2 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C Yes None Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 2 (Server Core installation) 4530695 (Monthly Rollup) 4530719 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4525234 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.2 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C Yes None Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-Based Systems Service Pack 1 4530734 (Monthly Rollup) 4530692 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4525235 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.2 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C Yes None Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1 4530734 (Monthly Rollup) 4530692 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4525235 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.2 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C Yes None Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1 (Server Core installation) 4530734 (Monthly Rollup) 4530692 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4525235 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.2 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C Yes None Windows Server 2012 4530691 (Monthly Rollup) 4530698 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4525246 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.2 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C Yes None Windows Server 2012 (Server Core installation) 4530691 (Monthly Rollup) 4530698 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4525246 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.2 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C Yes None Windows Server 2012 R2 4530702 (Monthly Rollup) 4530730 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4525243 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.2 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C Yes None Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation) 4530702 (Monthly Rollup) 4530730 (Security Only) Important Elevation of Privilege 4525243 Base: 7.8 Temporal: 7.2 Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C Yes None Windows Server 2016	`4530689 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes
Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation)	`4530689 (Security Update)`	Important	Elevation of Privilege	Yes

Patches

3 patches

Article	Type	Restart
`4530681`	Security Update	Yes
`4530689`	Security Update	Yes
`4530702`	Monthly Rollup	Yes

Exploits & PoC

3 public PoCs

Unverified third-party code

Public proof-of-concept repositories aggregated from PoC-in-GitHub. They are not reviewed and may be incomplete, non-functional, or malicious — inspect the code before running anything.

Repository	Stars	Published	Description
piotrflorczyk/cve-2019-1458_POC	181	2020-03-03	POC for cve-2019-1458
rip1s/CVE-2019-1458	133	2020-03-11	CVE-2019-1458 Windows LPE Exploit
Eternit7/CVE-2019-1458	0	2021-02-19

Detection Rules

No public Sigma or Nuclei detection rule has been mapped to this CVE yet. Coverage is concentrated on exploited / high-profile vulnerabilities; check SigmaHQ for updates.

Acknowledgments

Anton Ivanov and Alexey Kulaev of Kaspersky Lab

References

MSRC Advisory MITRE NVD