Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2022-35771 is a Windows Defender Credential Guard elevation-of-privilege flaw. An attacker who already has low-privileged local access could potentially gain stronger control over an affected Windows system. The CVSS score is high at 7.8 because successful exploitation could affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Executive priority
Treat this as a high-priority patching item, especially for servers and privileged-user workstations. It is not presented as internet-exploitable or actively exploited in the provided sources, but it can increase attacker impact after initial local foothold.
Technical view
Microsoft describes this as a confirmed CWE-269 privilege-management vulnerability in Windows Defender Credential Guard. The CVSS vector is local, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction, unchanged scope, with high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact. The source bundle indicates official remediation exists.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on listed Windows 10, Windows 11 21H2, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022, and Server Core systems where the applicable vulnerable builds remain unpatched.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited evidence of active exploitation. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access, so risk is highest where attackers can obtain user execution first, such as compromised endpoints, shared systems, or servers with broad interactive access.
Researcher notes
Key constraints are local attack vector, low attack complexity, low privileges required, and no user interaction. The affected list is broad across supported Windows client and server versions. The bundle lacks root-cause detail, exploit narrative, or named workarounds beyond Microsoft’s advisory and official remediation signal.
Mitigation direction
- Apply Microsoft security updates identified in the MSRC advisory for CVE-2022-35771.
- Prioritize affected servers, admin workstations, and shared endpoints.
- Track unsupported or unmanaged Windows builds for upgrade or isolation.
- Restrict local user access on systems awaiting remediation.
- Review Microsoft guidance for any product-specific servicing requirements.
Validation and detection
- Confirm operating system version and build against the affected product list.
- Check whether Defender Credential Guard is enabled on prioritized assets.
- Verify CVE-2022-35771 is closed in vulnerability management after patching.
- Review local account exposure on systems awaiting remediation.
- Document exceptions with owner, business need, and remediation date.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-269: Authorization and privilege behavior lookup
Authorization weaknesses can support privilege escalation and valid-account review, depending on exploit path. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCredential and access behavior lookup
The CVE wording references authentication or credential exposure, so valid-account and credential-access review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupPrivilege behavior lookup
The CVE wording references privilege impact, so privilege escalation and authorization behavior review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2022-35771 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 7.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C1.85.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.8HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- Windows Defender Credential Guard Elevation of Privilege VulnerabilityCVE reference · vendor-advisory
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Privilege Management
Improper Privilege Management represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.