Administrator code execution via incorrect directory permissions
Published Mar 11, 2021 · Updated Aug 19, 2026
Privilege escalation in Microsoft Windows Update Assistant before 10.0.19043.867 allows local users to execute code as Administrator. The Update Assistant assigns incorrect permissions to a directory, allowing low-privileged code to leverage that directory for arbitrary code execution. Exploitation requires existing low-privileged code execution and user interaction, and successful attacks run code in the Administrator context.
Summary
What happened
Privilege escalation in Microsoft Windows Update Assistant before 10.0.19043.867 allows local users to execute code as Administrator. The Update Assistant assigns incorrect permissions to a directory, allowing low-privileged code to leverage that directory for arbitrary code execution. Exploitation requires existing low-privileged code execution and user interaction, and successful attacks run code in the Administrator context.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2021-27070
- Published
- Mar 11, 2021
- Updated
- Aug 19, 2026
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Windows Server, version 2004
- Classifications
- CWE-732, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 11, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 19, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=10.0.0 <10.0.19043.867
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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