CVE-2019-0803
Published: 09 April 2019
Summary
CVE-2019-0803 is a high-severity an unspecified weakness vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 10 1709. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, ranked in the top 0.5% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) and AC-6 (Least Privilege).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2019-0803 is an elevation of privilege vulnerability in the Windows Win32k component that arises when the driver fails to properly handle objects in memory. The flaw affects supported Windows releases and carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.8, reflecting local attack vector, low complexity, and no user interaction requirements.
A local attacker with existing low-privileged access can exploit the issue to corrupt memory objects, thereby obtaining full administrative privileges on the affected system and gaining the ability to read, write, or delete arbitrary data.
Microsoft’s security advisory and the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog both reference the flaw, indicating that official patches are available through standard Windows Update channels and that organizations should apply them promptly to prevent exploitation.
The vulnerability appears in public exploit repositories and is tracked by CISA as actively used in the wild, underscoring the need for rapid remediation on any remaining unpatched endpoints.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2019-1559
Vulnerability details
An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists in Windows when the Win32k component fails to properly handle objects in memory, aka 'Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability'. This CVE ID is unique from CVE-2019-0685, CVE-2019-0859.
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 03 November 2021
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly requires timely application of the vendor patch that eliminates the Win32k memory-object flaw before local exploitation can succeed.
Mandates memory-protection safeguards that would block the unauthorized object corruption Win32k fails to prevent.
Enforces least-privilege boundaries so that even a successful local exploit yields only the minimal rights the process was originally granted.