Cyber Resilience

CVE-2022-21850

High

Published: 11 January 2022

Published
11 January 2022
Modified
21 November 2024
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score v3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0998 93.2th percentile
Risk Priority 24 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2022-21850 is a high-severity an unspecified weakness vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 10. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, ranked in the top 6.8% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Deeper analysis

CVE-2022-21850 is a remote code execution vulnerability in the Remote Desktop Client component of affected Microsoft Windows systems. It carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.8, reflecting network attack vector, low attack complexity, no required privileges, and required user interaction, with high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

An attacker can exploit the flaw by serving a malicious RDP endpoint that a victim is tricked into connecting to, resulting in arbitrary code execution on the client system without further user action beyond initiating the session.

Microsoft security advisories for CVE-2022-21850 direct administrators to apply the patches released in the corresponding monthly update cycle to address the issue.

The EPSS score rose from low values after the January 2022 disclosure to a peak of 0.1804 on 2025-01-22 before receding to the current 0.0998, indicating a later surge in exploitation interest that warrants renewed attention.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

Remote Desktop Client Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

CWE(s)

Related Threats

No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.

Affected Assets

microsoft
windows 10
1607, 1809, 1909, 20h2, 21h1
microsoft
windows 11
all versions
microsoft
windows 7
all versions
microsoft
windows 8.1
all versions
microsoft
windows server
2022, 20h2
microsoft
windows server 2008
r2
microsoft
windows server 2012
all versions, r2
microsoft
windows server 2016
all versions
microsoft
windows server 2019
all versions

Mitigating Controls

No mitigating controls mapped yet. The per-CVE control annotator has not reached this CVE.

References