Cyber Resilience

CVE-2022-21851

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-2022-21851 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-2022-21851 is a remote code execution vulnerability affecting the Remote Desktop Client. It carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.8 with network attack vector, low attack complexity, no required privileges, and required user interaction, resulting in high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

An attacker can exploit the flaw by supplying a malicious Remote Desktop server or connection target that a user connects to, allowing arbitrary code execution on the client system once the connection is established.

Microsoft security advisories at the listed MSRC URLs detail available patches and mitigation steps for the affected Remote Desktop Client components.

The associated EPSS score rose from a low baseline to a peak of 0.1804 on 2025-01-22 before receding to the current value of 0.0998, indicating a period of increased exploitation interest well after the 2022 disclosure.

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