A vulnerability was discovered in Microsoft Windows that could allow an attacker to take control of an affected system. This vulnerability is known as Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability and could potentially be exploited by hackers to conduct a variety of malicious activities. Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability is rated as Critical severity. If exploited, an attacker could run arbitrary code on the affected system in kernel mode. End users should be aware of this vulnerability and take necessary precautions to protect their systems. A number of software vendors released patches to fix this issue. However, if you are running an older version of Microsoft Windows than the patched version, you may still be vulnerable. In order to determine if you are running a vulnerable version, you can run the following command.
winver If the result of the above command is greater than or equal to 6.1, then you are running a vulnerable version. You can quickly update your system by downloading the patch from Microsoft website. Microsoft released security bulletin MS19-002 to address this vulnerability. End users with Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 can update their systems by installing this update.
Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability – What is it?
The Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability is a critical vulnerability that affects Microsoft Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2008 R2. This vulnerability allows malicious users to take control of an affected system. The impact of this vulnerability includes running arbitrary code on the affected system in kernel mode. Depending on the privileges associated with the targeted account, an attacker could perform any number of actions such as installing programs; viewing, changing, or deleting data; logging keystrokes; reading content from the clipboard; creating new accounts with full user rights; etc.
According to Microsoft’s Security Bulletin MS19-002, this vulnerability affects all supported versions of Windows as well as supported versions of Microsoft Office 2007 and SharePoint Server 2010. In order to determine if your system is vulnerable, you can run the following commands:
winver If the result of the above command is greater than or equal to 6.1, then your system is not vulnerable and you don’t need to install MS19-002 update from Microsoft website. However, if your result is less than 6.1 then you should install MS19-002 update for your platform from Microsoft website immediately as it contains important security fixes for all impacted versions of Windows and Office software packages.
Microsoft Windows Client Operating System Detection
Microsoft Windows Client Operating System Detection is a tool that provides information about the operating system installed on a client device. This tool can be utilized to determine if the user's system is running an affected version of Microsoft Windows.
To run this tool, you will need to download and execute the following executable file:
wmic os get name If the result of the above command is greater than or equal to 6.1, then you are running an affected version of Microsoft Windows and should take steps to update your systems by downloading and installing MS19-002.
How does Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability work?
This vulnerability was discovered in Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019. This vulnerability allows an attacker to run arbitrary code on the affected system. The vulnerability is caused by a bug in Microsoft's Win32k component.
The vulnerability impacts the following products: Microsoft Windows 10, Microsoft Windows Server 2019, Microsoft Server 2008 R2, Microsoft Server 2012, Microsoft Server 2012 R2, and Microsoft Windows 7.
Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability - What is it?
Windows uses a subsystem called Win32k to handle different functions that are needed for the operating system. One such function is the window manager, which handles processes for windows. This vulnerability allows an attacker to take control of the affected system without requiring any user interaction. The vulnerability is also called “Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability” because it could potentially be exploited by hackers to perform malicious activities on the system.
Timeline
Published on: 01/11/2022 21:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 01/19/2022 16:58:00 UTC