CVE-2021-1732Windows Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
- 7.8HighCVSS base score
- 78.4%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 0.4% of all CVEs
- YesKnown exploitedin CISA's KEV since 3 Nov 2021
- 1Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
Windows Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
Exploited in the wild
CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as Microsoft Win32k Privilege Escalation Vulnerability.
- Added
- 3 Nov 2021
- Fix due (US federal)
- 17 Nov 2021
- Used by ransomware
- Known
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
ENISA's EU Vulnerability Database lists it as exploited, from CISA's KEV, since 3 Nov 2021.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list a Metasploit module for it. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: it is being exploited.
Show the exploits1
Metasploit modules1 module
- Win32k ConsoleControl Offset Confusion (Metasploit module) (opens in a new tab)
exploit/windows/local/cve_2022_21882_win32kRank averagedisclosed 9 Feb 2021
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By microsoft
- 3 months later
· 3 months later
Published
- 8 months later
· 8 months later
Added to CISA KEV
Known exploited, also by ransomware
- 5 years later
· 5 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| microsoftCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:O/RC:C |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 78.4% · top 0.4% of all CVEs (13 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.8.
Affected products
Microsoft · Windows 10 Version 1803
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows 10 Version 1809
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows Server 2019
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation)
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows 10 Version 1909
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows Server, version 1909 (Server Core installation)
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows 10 Version 2004
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows Server version 2004
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows 10 Version 20H2
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
Microsoft · Windows Server version 20H2
- affected 10.0.0 – < publication
References
References4
- https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2021-1732 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/161880/Win32k-ConsoleControl-Offset-Confusion.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/166169/Win32k-ConsoleControl-Offset-Confusion-Privilege-Escalation.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-1732 (opens in a new tab)government-resource
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- CISA KEV catalog (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2021-7196 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2021-1732)Record last updated .