SYSTEM privilege escalation via unquoted task paths
Published Jan 10, 2023 · Updated Jan 1, 2025
Unquoted search path handling in affected Microsoft Windows releases allows local users to gain SYSTEM privileges through a crafted executable. Task Scheduler checks a path for spaces before expanding an environment variable, so expansion can discard effective quoting and resolve C:\Program.exe before the intended binary. Exploitation requires a qualifying scheduled task and write access to the drive root, which default Windows permissions reserve for administrators.
Summary
What happened
Unquoted search path handling in affected Microsoft Windows releases allows local users to gain SYSTEM privileges through a crafted executable. Task Scheduler checks a path for spaces before expanding an environment variable, so expansion can discard effective quoting and resolve C:\Program.exe before the intended binary. Exploitation requires a qualifying scheduled task and write access to the drive root, which default Windows permissions reserve for administrators.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-21541
- Published
- Jan 10, 2023
- Updated
- Jan 1, 2025
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Windows 10 Version 1507
- Classifications
- CWE-428, T1574.009
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jan 10, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jan 1, 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
- Task Scheduler unquoted-path proof of conceptproof of concept · demonstrated
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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