Domain privilege escalation by local administrators
Published May 10, 2022 · Updated Jan 2, 2025
Elevation of privilege in Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 CU23, 2016 CU22-CU23, and 2019 CU11-CU12 allows local users to gain domain control. Microsoft has not disclosed the flawed component or operation, but its checker distinguishes the vulnerable state through an Active Directory ACE or MESO container version. Exploitation requires high Exchange privileges; successful use crosses the security boundary to Domain Administrator rights.
Summary
What happened
Elevation of privilege in Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 CU23, 2016 CU22-CU23, and 2019 CU11-CU12 allows local users to gain domain control. Microsoft has not disclosed the flawed component or operation, but its checker distinguishes the vulnerable state through an Active Directory ACE or MESO container version. Exploitation requires high Exchange privileges; successful use crosses the security boundary to Domain Administrator rights.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-21978
- Published
- May 10, 2022
- Updated
- Jan 2, 2025
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 Cumulative Update 12
- Classifications
- T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- admin
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 10, 2022CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jan 2, 2025Record 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=15.02.0 <15.02.1118.009
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
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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