Threats / Microsoft / CVE-2022-22718
CVE-2022-22718
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Microsoft Windows vulnerability
Microsoft Windows Print Spooler vulnerability allows privilege escalation through an unspecified mechanism. The vulnerability has been exploited in the wild.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
A privilege escalation flaw in Windows Print Spooler enables attackers to elevate permissions on affected systems. Active exploitation in the wild indicates immediate risk to unpatched Windows deployments.
CISA KEV Yes · 2022-04-195EPSS 0.18464 (verify live)6CVSS 7.83CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total4
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
1 independent public report of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-04-19).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.18464 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 7.8 (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) · Affected: Microsoft, Windows. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CNA-assigned (CVE.org), version 3.1, set at disclosure.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 69 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I identify a Windows system running the Print Spooler service with the vulnerability present.
Business
Affected organizations face exposure of all systems with Print Spooler enabled, potentially spanning entire Windows deployments.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I trigger the unspecified vulnerability in Print Spooler to escalate my privileges from a lower-privileged context.
Business
Attackers gain system-level access, enabling lateral movement, data exfiltration, and persistent compromise across the network.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I execute arbitrary code or commands with elevated privileges to establish control over the compromised system.
Business
Full system compromise allows attackers to install malware, steal credentials, and pivot to critical infrastructure or sensitive data repositories.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05