CVE-2021-36934
Windows Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
CVSS 7.8 HIGHEPSS 67.3%● KEV
In short
Windows has overly loose security permissions on critical system files like the SAM database, allowing someone who can run code on your computer to gain full SYSTEM privileges and take complete control. This is serious because an attacker could install malware, steal data, or create unauthorized accounts.
Technical detail
Elevation of privilege vulnerability stemming from overly permissive ACLs on system files including the SAM database, exploitable by an attacker with local code execution capability to escalate privileges to SYSTEM level. Successful exploitation enables arbitrary code execution with full system privileges; remediation requires both security update installation and manual deletion of Volume Shadow Copies to prevent bypass via snapshot restore.
Summary generated and translated by AI from the official description.
<p>An elevation of privilege vulnerability exists because of overly permissive Access Control Lists (ACLs) on multiple system files, including the Security Accounts Manager (SAM) database. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code with SYSTEM privileges. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.</p>
<p>An attacker must have the ability to execute code on a victim system to exploit this vulnerability.</p>
<p>After installing this security update, you <em>must</em> manually delete all shadow copies of system files, including the SAM database, to fully mitigate this vulnerabilty. <strong>Simply installing this security update will not fully mitigate this vulnerability.</strong> See <a href="https://support.microsoft.com/topic/1ceaa637-aaa3-4b58-a48b-baf72a2fa9e7">KB5005357- Delete Volume Shadow Copies</a>.</p>
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:F/RL:T/RC:C
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