Local kernel privilege escalation
Published Nov 9, 2022 · Updated Aug 10, 2026
Elevation of privilege in Microsoft's WSL2 kernel before 5.15.62.1 allows local users to gain kernel-level access. Microsoft has not published the affected kernel subsystem or the unsafe operation that enables the escalation. Existing low-privileged local access and high-complexity conditions are required, and Azure EFLOW before 1.4.2.12122 LTS is also affected.
Summary
What happened
Elevation of privilege in Microsoft's WSL2 kernel before 5.15.62.1 allows local users to gain kernel-level access. Microsoft has not published the affected kernel subsystem or the unsafe operation that enables the escalation. Existing low-privileged local access and high-complexity conditions are required, and Azure EFLOW before 1.4.2.12122 LTS is also affected.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-38014
- Published
- Nov 9, 2022
- Updated
- Aug 10, 2026
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Azure IoT Edge for Linux on Windows
- Classifications
- CWE-362, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Nov 9, 2022CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 10, 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=1.4.0.0 <1.4.2.12122 LTS
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.
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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