SYSTEM privilege escalation via poisoned rollback path
Published Feb 14, 2023 · Updated Aug 19, 2026
Path traversal in Windows Installer on affected Windows Server 2008 builds allows local users to gain SYSTEM privileges during MSI repair. The rollback mechanism trusts a low-privileged user's PROGRAMDATA value, then follows a planted reparse point and moves the referenced file with SYSTEM rights. A local account and an installed MSI package permitting elevated repair are required; exploitation can delete protected files and enable SYSTEM-level code execution.
Summary
What happened
Path traversal in Windows Installer on affected Windows Server 2008 builds allows local users to gain SYSTEM privileges during MSI repair. The rollback mechanism trusts a low-privileged user's PROGRAMDATA value, then follows a planted reparse point and moves the referenced file with SYSTEM rights. A local account and an installed MSI package permitting elevated repair are required; exploitation can delete protected files and enable SYSTEM-level code execution.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-21800
- Published
- Feb 14, 2023
- Updated
- Aug 19, 2026
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1
- Classifications
- CWE-73, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Feb 14, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 19, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=6.1.7601.0 <6.1.7601.26366
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
- Windows Installer rollback reparse-point exploit demonstrationfunctional · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo