Threats / Microsoft / CVE-2022-37969
CVE-2022-37969
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Microsoft Windows vulnerability
Microsoft Windows Common Log File System (CLFS) driver vulnerability allows privilege escalation through improper input validation and buffer operations.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
A privilege escalation flaw in the Windows CLFS driver enables local attackers to gain elevated system access. The vulnerability has been exploited in active attacks and involves improper input handling and memory corruption.
CISA KEV Yes · 2022-09-145EPSS 0.28275 (verify live)6Exploit Public PoC7CVSS 7.83CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: total4
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Public proof-of-concept exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
13 independent public reports 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 2022-09-14).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.28275 — 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.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-20 Improper Input Validation, CWE-787 Out-of-bounds Write — weakness family: Memory safety.CWE assignment from the public NVD record (may be stale); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
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 1 day 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 craft malicious input to the CLFS driver to trigger improper validation.
Business
An attacker gains a foothold on the system through local access.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I exploit the buffer operation flaw to corrupt memory and escalate privileges.
Business
The attacker obtains system-level permissions, bypassing access controls.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges to install persistence mechanisms.
Business
The organization loses control of affected systems and faces data compromise risk.
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