CVE-2019-0543 — Microsoft
HIGHCVE-2019-0543 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.8) Improper Authentication vulnerability. It is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-03-15) and has been used in ransomware campaigns — treat it as actively exploited and patch now. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when Windows improperly handles authentication requests, aka "Microsoft Windows Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability." This affects Windows…
Exploitation Status
Actively exploited in the wild
- Confirmed by CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-03-15 — including use in ransomware campaigns. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2022-04-05.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA (KEV catalog and SSVC triage) for CVE-2019-0543.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2019-0543 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 394,803 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Description
An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists when Windows improperly handles authentication requests, aka "Microsoft Windows Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability." This affects Windows 7, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows RT 8.1, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2012, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 10, Windows 10 Servers.
Affected Products
windows 7microsoftwindows 8.1microsoftwindows 10 1507microsoftwindows 10 1607microsoftwindows 10 1703microsoftwindows 10 1709microsoftResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Microsoft Windows 10 - SSPI Network Authentication Session 0 Privilege Escalation
by Google Security Research · Jan 14, 2019
Detection & mitigation playbook
VulnerabilityDetect
Identify every host running the affected component and compare the installed build against the fixed version below — for source-built or distro-packaged software the version string, not a lockfile, is the source of truth (`dpkg -l`, `rpm -q`, or the binary's own `--version`).
Remediation status
No fixed release is recorded for CVE-2019-0543 yet. Track the upstream advisory, and apply the exposure-reduction steps below in the meantime.
Mitigate without a patch
Put an independent control in front of the weakness: restrict the affected endpoint or interface to trusted networks, require an additional authentication factor or proxy-level check, and invalidate existing sessions and credentials in case the flaw has already been used.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2019-0543 in your dependencies?
Find it across , including transitive dependencies.