Local privilege escalation via untrusted search path
Published Nov 14, 2023 · Updated Oct 9, 2025
Privilege escalation in Microsoft Defender Antivirus Antimalware Platform before 4.18.23100.2009 allows local users to gain elevated rights. The platform searches for a trusted resource through an attacker-influenceable path; Microsoft has not identified the resource, path, or loading code. Exploitation requires existing low-privileged local access and grants higher privileges, but the resulting account or execution context is undisclosed.
Summary
What happened
Privilege escalation in Microsoft Defender Antivirus Antimalware Platform before 4.18.23100.2009 allows local users to gain elevated rights. The platform searches for a trusted resource through an attacker-influenceable path; Microsoft has not identified the resource, path, or loading code. Exploitation requires existing low-privileged local access and grants higher privileges, but the resulting account or execution context is undisclosed.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-36422
- Published
- Nov 14, 2023
- Updated
- Oct 9, 2025
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Microsoft Defender Antivirus Antimalware Platform
- Classifications
- CWE-426, T1574
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Nov 14, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Oct 9, 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=4.0.0.0 <4.18.23100.2009
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.
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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