Local privilege escalation via pgodriver.sys pointer dereference
Published Sep 12, 2023 · Updated Oct 30, 2025
Untrusted pointer dereference in affected Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 and 2022 releases allows local users to elevate privileges. The pgodriver.sys kernel driver dereferences an attacker-influenced pointer while reading a malicious file; Microsoft has not identified the affected routine or resulting memory primitive. Exploitation requires local access, low privileges, user interaction, and delivery of a malicious file; the published record does not identify the elevated security context.
Summary
What happened
Untrusted pointer dereference in affected Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 and 2022 releases allows local users to elevate privileges. The pgodriver.sys kernel driver dereferences an attacker-influenced pointer while reading a malicious file; Microsoft has not identified the affected routine or resulting memory primitive. Exploitation requires local access, low privileges, user interaction, and delivery of a malicious file; the published record does not identify the elevated security context.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-36759
- Published
- Sep 12, 2023
- Updated
- Oct 30, 2025
- Vendor
- Microsoft
- Product
- Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 version 17.7
- Classifications
- CWE-822, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 12, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Oct 30, 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=17.7.0 <17.7.4
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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