CVE-2024-21338
Microsoft Windows 10 1809 ≤ 10.0.17763.5458
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2024-21338 is a high-severity Untrusted Pointer Dereference (CWE-822) vulnerability in Microsoft Windows 10 1809. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked in the top 0.9% 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 map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability CVE-2024-21338 affects the Windows kernel component and carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 7.8. The flaw is tracked under CWE-822 and permits an attacker to escalate privileges from a local context to full kernel-level access.
An authenticated local user with low privileges can exploit the issue without user interaction to obtain complete control over the affected system, including the ability to read, write, or delete arbitrary data and execute code at the highest privilege level.
Microsoft’s security update guide lists patches addressing the vulnerability and recommends applying the relevant updates through standard Windows servicing channels. Public exploit code has been published on Exploit-DB and PacketStorm, and reporting from Avast ties the issue to observed activity by the Lazarus group involving a BYOVD rootkit technique.
The associated EPSS score reached a peak of 0.7957 shortly after disclosure and remains near 0.7935, indicating sustained exploitation interest following the initial announcement.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-19050
Vulnerability Data
Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 04 March 2024
Related Threats
Threat-Actor AttributionAI
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation can discover instances where untrusted data is turned into a pointer and dereferenced.
Validating all information inputs stops untrusted values from being accepted and converted into dereferenceable pointers.
Memory-protection mechanisms limit the damage from an invalid pointer dereference without stopping the root coding flaw.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Runtime monitoring of software and data can detect adverse events resulting from exploitation of the weakness.
Vulnerability identification processes can discover instances of this weakness via code review or scanning.
Secure SDLC practices directly prevent introduction of untrusted pointer handling during development.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.