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CVE-2021-36934

7.8
HIGHCVSS v3.1 Base Score
90.42%
HIGH RiskEPSS (100th percentile)
KEV
NVD-CWE-Other

<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>

Published: 7/22/2021
Modified: 2/25/2026
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ACTIVELY EXPLOITED IN THE WILD

This vulnerability is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.

Vulnerability Name:

Microsoft Windows SAM Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Vendor / Product:

Microsoft Windows

Required Action:

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Due Date: 2/24/2022(OVERDUE)
Added to KEV:

2/10/2022

Notes:

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-36934

Vulnerability Summary

CVSS v3 Score

7.8HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS v2 Score

4.6

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

EPSS Score (Exploitation Probability)

90.42%HIGH Exploitation Risk
100th percentile

This vulnerability has a 90.42% probability of being exploited in the next 30 days, ranking higher than 100% of all scored CVEs.

CWE Classification

NVD-CWE-Other

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