CVE-2021-43877

Local privilege escalation in IIS-hosted applications

Published Dec 15, 2021 · Updated Aug 4, 2024

Elevation of privilege in Microsoft ASP.NET Core and Visual Studio allows local users to gain higher privileges when applications run under IIS. Microsoft identifies ASP.NET Core Module as the affected component but has not published the flawed operation or attacker-controlled input responsible for the privilege boundary failure. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access and an ASP.NET Core application hosted within IIS; the published consequence is elevation to higher privileges.

CVSS severity8.8
High
EPSS probability0.72%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Elevation of privilege in Microsoft ASP.NET Core and Visual Studio allows local users to gain higher privileges when applications run under IIS. Microsoft identifies ASP.NET Core Module as the affected component but has not published the flawed operation or attacker-controlled input responsible for the privilege boundary failure. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access and an ASP.NET Core application hosted within IIS; the published consequence is elevation to higher privileges.

The record

CVE
CVE-2021-43877
Published
Dec 15, 2021
Updated
Aug 4, 2024
Vendor
Microsoft
Product
Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 version 16.7
Classifications
T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Dec 15, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 4, 2024Record 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=16.0.0 <16.7.23

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Microsoft · Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 version 16.7version=16.0.0 <16.7.23
Microsoft · ASP.NET Core 6.0version=6.0 <6.0.101
Microsoft · Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 version 16.11version=16.11.0 <16.11.8
Microsoft · Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.0version=17.0.0 <17.0.3
Microsoft · ASP.NET Coreversion=3.0 <3.1.22; version=5.0 <5.0.13
Microsoft · Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.1version=17.0.0 <17.1.4
Microsoft · Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 version 16.9version=15.0.0 <16.9.15

Published CVSS scores

7.8Microsoft CorporationCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
8.8NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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