Local SYSTEM elevation through hard-coded credentials
Published Jan 10, 2023 · Updated Apr 12, 2025
Privilege escalation in Microsoft Windows LSA allows local low-privileged users on affected Windows releases to obtain SYSTEM privileges. Microsoft maps the flaw to hard-coded credentials but has not published the credential, code locus, or incorrect LSA operation. Exploitation requires local access and existing low privileges; successful use grants complete control as SYSTEM.
Summary
What happened
Privilege escalation in Microsoft Windows LSA allows local low-privileged users on affected Windows releases to obtain SYSTEM privileges. Microsoft maps the flaw to hard-coded credentials but has not published the credential, code locus, or incorrect LSA operation. Exploitation requires local access and existing low privileges; successful use grants complete control as SYSTEM.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-21524
- Published
- Jan 10, 2023
- Updated
- Apr 12, 2025
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Windows 10 Version 1507
- Classifications
- CWE-798, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jan 10, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Apr 12, 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=10.0.10240.0 <10.0.10240.19685
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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