Privilege escalation via weak Kerberos encryption
Published Sep 13, 2022 · Updated Mar 11, 2025
Improper cryptographic validation in Windows Server Kerberos allows man-in-the-middle attackers to obtain another user's privileges. The KDC accepts legacy RC4-MD4 encryption and returns a Ticket Granting Ticket whose session key is recoverable because the cipher exposes most key material. Exploitation requires interception of Kerberos traffic, after which the recovered ticket authenticates to domain services as the targeted account, including an administrator.
Summary
What happened
Improper cryptographic validation in Windows Server Kerberos allows man-in-the-middle attackers to obtain another user's privileges. The KDC accepts legacy RC4-MD4 encryption and returns a Ticket Granting Ticket whose session key is recoverable because the cipher exposes most key material. Exploitation requires interception of Kerberos traffic, after which the recovered ticket authenticates to domain services as the targeted account, including an administrator.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-33647
- Published
- Sep 13, 2022
- Updated
- Mar 11, 2025
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Windows Server 2019
- Classifications
- T1550.003
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 13, 2022CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Mar 11, 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=10.0.17763.0 <10.0.17763.3406
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
- Project Zero Rubeus Kerberos proof of conceptfunctional · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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